Warren Chang

Essay by Kathleen Biersteker

On October 13, 2005, Warren Chang gave a presentation of his work to students of the Fall 2005 Visual and Public Art Visiting Artist Series class, at the CSUMB University Center. Kathleen Biersteker is a student in the class.

Biographic Information

Born in Monterey, California in 1957, Warren Chang graduated from Pacific Grove High School and from the Art Center College of Design in 1981. He enjoyed a twenty-year career as a freelance illustrator. Currently he is devoting himself to the fine arts and is teaching drawing and painting at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. Primarily a figurative artist, he paints the figure in contemporary environments such as the interiors of his studio and classroom or outdoor genre paintings where he captures the everyday life of the fieldworkers of Monterey County where he grew up. (http://www.warrenchang.com/biography.html October 10, 2005)

Warren said that his break came late in life and that if an artist can find their subjects or material a breakthrough can come earlier. He said that he knew how to paint but didn’t know what to paint. He also said that the study of art is a lifelong thing and that the more you know, the more there is to know. Warren said that he read that New York Times critic, Michael Kimmelman said that most artists have one good idea, maybe two and that is enough for a lifetime.

Artist’s Role

I believe that Warren decided to depict agricultural workers in his paintings for personal reasons, one of which is that he grew up reading Steinbeck. However, the personal has become political because, although the subject matter is based upon an established tradition, this theme is quite unusual within the context of contemporary times. Viewers respond to the work in strong ways and demand explanation.

Warren maintains that he does not have an agenda with his art, and that he is not a social activist. He believes that it is up to the viewer to bring this interpretation to his art or to take the meaning further. Warren also believes that the most powerful things in art are things that cannot be spoken in words.

Either overtly or implicitly, consciously or unconsciously, Chang’s work explores social history and social justice and the nobility of labor and the agricultural workers. Warren is interested in the human psyche and is exploring the struggle of human condition as it exists for field workers.

Chang says that not everyone is going to like your art work and what you are trying to represent. He feels that success as an artist is measured by how sincere the artist is. How intense are your feelings? As an artist, how deep do you go? How much substance is there in your work? He believes that the deepest meaning in art is found in tragedy.

Art Medium and Artistic Process

Currently Chang works predominantly on small scale realistic representational oil painting done at the easel in his studio. He does self portraits using a mirror. He works from models as well as from photographs he has taken.

Using a limited palette, he starts with a monochromatic wash, trying to keep shadows thin and highlights thick. An admirer of several painters such as Winslow Homer, John Singer Sergeant, Thomas Hart Benton, Breton, Millet, Max Ginsberg, Zorn, Eastman Johnson, and Vermeer, etc., Chang borrows compositions from paintings he especially likes. He studies the human figure, is documenting his studio environment, at home and in his classroom. He paints still lifes, landscapes and figures in the landscape and in interior settings. He is interested in light and in controlling color.

Major Art Works

His work has been featured in American Artist and International Artist magazine, won awards from the Society of Illustrators of New York and Communication Arts Magazine, and since 1990, Chang has had more than 200 paintings published as book covers. Last year he was awarded Best of Show at the Salon International 2003 held at the Greenhouse Gallery in Texas. This year he was awarded 2nd Prize Winner by the International Artist Magazine Favorite Subjects Competition. (http://www.warrenchang.com/biography.html October 10, 2005)

Theme of Social Landscape

As the theme of Social Landscape relates to the work of Human Geography, many US agricultural workers are Mexican American, from Mexico or from Central America. Many have had to leave their homes for diverse reasons such as political or economic conditions and have become displaced. Work is seasonal and often families are left at homes far away as the workers move back and forth across borders in response to the needs of agricultural crops and growers. Chang’s work that focuses on agricultural workers deals with the workers as they experience their place in the world. His work gives us an opportunity to peer into the lives of those who we have taken for granted, as they plant, grow, and harvest beautiful fruits and vegetables, because his paintings give us a chance to know something more about them.

Public Nature of Work

One reason Chang’s small easel painting fit into the notion of public art is due to audience reaction to his work. The November 19, 2005 Monterey County Herald featured an article about a bill considering “Guest Workers” in the US. The article describes the agricultural workers as “living in the shadows”. Many are here illegally and some legislators describe them as law breakers. The agricultural workers are contributing to our economy, paying taxes and yet cannot participate fully in our system. As a general population, we are full of misconceptions about them because we don’t actually know much about them. As Warren looks at the landscape and the people in it, his work gives us more of a glimpse into their lives.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Chang is an artist who, for various personal reasons, decided to use field workers as the subject of some of his compositions. The implications of his work transcend his original intentions for creating the paintings. His work is becoming more important as Warren’s personal inquiries and interpretations become part of a growing awareness and larger discussion about the relationship of the landscape and power, and about agricultural workers and their relationship socially, economically, politically, culturally, ethically, culturally, humanistically and in other ways to a much greater (social) landscape.