SEATTLE, WA.- As a cartographer, Chase Langford knows the rules of spatial science. As an artist, he knows how to exquisitely break them. From southern California to the Pacific Northwest, Langford’s latest body of work delivers an idiosyncratic survey of places re-imagined. Abstract forms and rich textures merge in otherworldly portrayals of real geographic forms, rendering landscapes at once familiar and elusive.

Reminiscent of sedimentary cross-sections, Langford’s canvases are confidently tactile. Generous paint application paired with a bold, earthy palette evoke the rich strata of the Earth’s crust while speaking to the incipient creative act of the artist. In Calcadia, Langford brings focus to the physical landscape of the American West Coast just as so much of it is changing. In doing so, he asks us to see that landscape not only for the wonder it is, but for what it has been and what it might be — years, centuries, eons from now.

Chase Langford’s artistic practice emerges from a lifelong fascination with the natural world. By his teens, Langford had a personal collection of over 1000 atlases and maps. His cartographic impulse quickly carried over to his studies in geography at UC Santa Barbara, and later to creating maps for faculty at UCLA. In the 1980s, with a perspective deeply informed by the rich visual patterns of the organic world, Langford began exploring ways in which he could integrate cartography and fine art. His work is displayed in residential, public and corporate collections worldwide, including the Long Beach Museum of Art, the Four Seasons in Hong Kong, USC’s Keck School of Medicine, Monique Lhuillier Inc, UBS and Nordstrom stores nationwide. He currently works from his studio in Los Angeles, California.

The exhibition is on view at Foster/White Gallery from April 5 through 21.