BOSTON, MA.- LaiSun Keane is now hosting Exquisite Corpse, Chase Travaille’s first solo exhibition with the gallery, on view from January 5 - February 18, 2024. This is his fourth time working with Travaille; who previously had his ceramic works included in two 2022 group exhibitions and took him to Intersect Palm Springs in February this year. This solo presentation includes 2D collages created from comic book pages and 3D vessels constructed using shards collected from other ceramicists. An iteration of this exhibition is currently on view at the Windgate Museum, Hendrix College, Conway, Arkansas.

Travaille’s practice developed during his 2021 residency in Montana when he was looking for new ways to make ceramics without a kiln. He then stumbled across a pile of discarded projects from past residents and repurposed them into unique vessels of his own. Soon, they became a metaphor for community strength, healing, and the process of rebirth following the events of the past few years.

Meanwhile, his 2D collages are composed of cut-outs from vintage comic books, reflecting the nature of queer identity. The medium has long been stigmatized, as it was seen as “juvenile,” “lowbrow,” and separate from “proper art.” Beloved comic book characters such as X-Men and Superman navigate themes of secret identity and ostracism, both of which resonate with the queer experience. Like his approach to the 3D sculptures, Travaille recontextualizes and combines the illustrations to create colorful and vibrant amphoras.

Travaille also finds inspiration in Southern Gothic literature, having grown up in a culture with strong ties to honor. Drawn to the genre’s theatricality and subversiveness, he strives to explore “dark humor, transgressive thoughts and desires,” and dialogues “concerning sexuality, social class, and material impossibility.”

Travaille received his MFA from Alfred University in 2019 and was awarded the Outstanding Student Achievement in Sculpture Award from the International Sculpture Center. He has attended international residencies and finished his long-term residency at the Archie Bray Foundation in the summer of 2021, and the Community Creative Center in Fayetteville, AR in 2022-23. He currently lives and works outside of Little Rock, Arkansas.

The Artist will be present at the following events
ARTIST RECEPTION • Friday, February 2, 2024, 5 - 8pm
ARTIST TALK • Saturday, February 3, 2024, 1 - 2pm