Jack Chambers (1931-1970) was a Canadian painter and filmaker who shifted from surrealist to photo-realist during his career. I was turned on to Chambers’ work via this article in Walrus Magazine about his unfinished masterpiece, Lunch (1971), which after working on for ten years, Chambers died before completing.
Chambers completed six films between 1960 and 1970, I tried to find footage online from one, The Hart of London, but they were taken down. I did find some excerpts from a movie about Chambers’ work and life here.
A couple other photo-realists working in a similar I’ve posted on previously are William Eggelston and Mike Bayne.
http://www.ccca.ca/videoportrait/english/chambers.html?languagePref=en&
http://c4gallery.com/artist/database/jack-chambers/jack-chambers.html
Hi Scott, you should probably also take a look at
Hi Scott, you should probably also take a look at Anotonio Lopez Garcia’s work as well (if you’re not familiar with him already). A well celebrated spanish realist painter who also started out as a surrealist and slowly migrated into realism.
“The Table” started in 1971 and finished in 1980:
http://tinyurl.com/7e2abt7
If you have the time, take a look at Mambrillo del Sol – wonderful introspective movie he took a part in.
Cheers
Nice to see Jack Chambers mentioned here, having grown up in London, Ontario. Although one mistake I should point out – he died in 1978, not 1970.
Reminds me of Carl Rice Embrey. I was introduced to him while living in Texas years ago and was blown away. He might provide some good contrast to Chambers’ depictions of the north because he painted mostly Texas landscapes. Might be worth it to check out.
didnt find much on him online but http://www.artnet.com/artists/carl%20rice-embrey/
Non of those photos really do him justice by the way. I have a book with some much better prints as far as color goes. If i have time to upload them ill post a link
no doubt a bad ass.
there’s a rich little nugget of art history to be discovered from london during the 60’s and into the 70’s with some very interesting characters/artists, ideas about art & politics, and music.
well…interesting to me as i grew up in london, my family doctor was john clement & i attended beal’s art program.
i didn’t know this until just now, but according to chambers’ wiki, “Stan Brakhage proclaimed Chambers’ The Hart of London as “one of the greatest films ever made.”” <—whoa, that's pretty massive coming from brakhage of all people.
I was looking at the photos thinking they were almost painterly, like a Jack Chambers work, then lo and behold! Never thought I’d see the day.
The Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto’s major art museum, has a retrospective of Chamber’s work on now. Definitely worth a visit.