The Death of BigHead

I must admit that upon entering the C.A.V.E gallery, I was not exactly sure what to expect, as I had merely seen a single image of Peter Chatem’s art. So when beginning to view the exhibit, I was immediately drawn to his color pallet. The paintings consisted of muted golds, reds, and blues. The colors almost had a greasy or dirty effect in terms of their saturation, which only added to the vintage look of his characters. The characters within his paintings had a cartoon like quality that reminded me of a cross between the blackface collectibles from the early –mid 19th century and the imagery from the 1902 silent film “A Trip to the Moon.”


It was only upon closer inspection that I noticed that parts of the paintings were in fact gears, and that the gears were in fact connected to one another and manually controllable. This immediately added more depth and insight into his artwork and further added to the early 19th century industrial iconography. The interactivity of his artwork is really what sets it apart from the usual “look but don’t touch” approach of viewing art while also allowing for a sense of fun, to what immediately feels as “darker” imagery.


What I liked most about his work however, were that the paintings themselves seemed to convey a narrative. The characters or subjects of his paintings were part of a greater story and quite literally were moving within that story via the gear work. I got the sense of damnation or the sense that these characters were either being persecuted or escaping persecution. I found consistent themes and elements within each painting that lead me to this conclusion. Specifically, I found locks and keys in every painting, which led me to the idea of persecution or imprisonment.


However, there was also a bird or several in each piece, and in retrospect, they did seem to be red, which leads me to believe that they represented a Phoenix. And the Phoenix is, of course, known as the symbol of rebirth which rises from the ashes, which makes me think that these characters were in fact escaping persecution or damnation, in terms of being reborn or being freed from whatever it was that brought them to this place. So it is possible that the narrative is more about redemption and freedom than persecution and imprisonment.

In any case, the power of his artwork and talent is very apparent. He was able to convey a story with vivid toon-like characters and allow the audience to fully interact with his artwork. His artwork really feels appropriate for this generation who has grown up on cartoons and comics and whose touch screen induced lifestyle has us all touching without even thinking. He is definitely a gifted artist who is providing art with a fresh take while harking back to a simpler albeit darker time.

-Andrew Vilar