Overview

Born and raised near Mount Rainier in Washington state, Chyrum Lambert deeply misses the forest of his youth. Without conscious effort, his work reflects a reverence for nature. Through a lush color palette and breathing vernacular, he summons intimations of stone, leafy overgrowth, fire, and ambient fog. Oddly, Lambert’s work does not contain any representational imagery. Instead, the artist recontextualizes these primordial elements through ecosystem-like structures that illustrate the connections between forms and states of existence. In the words of the artist: “Sometimes what is hidden is more reliant on the one looking rather than the object being looked at. A belief of mine is that looking can be a type of changing—if one points their attention in the right direction.” Prioritizing exploration as a key tenet of his practice, Lambert’s biological altars provoke a fundamental desire to discover that which is beyond the horizon.


His process begins with a meditative approach to painting, a raw mark-making of sorts, focusing on texture and color, using a slew of different media, often stumbling upon happy accidents. Lambert completely separates constructing his collaged compositions from the physical act of painting textures, instead clearing his mind and reveling in the satisfaction of pushing pigment across a welcoming surface of paper. Lambert is drawn to high-contrast jumps in color and is particularly concerned with opalescence and tonal value, taking great pleasure in influencing his materials in order to extract their unique characteristics. Drawing from a massive collection created over a period of years, the artist reuses and retires his painted surfaces as he sees fit.


Lambert arrived at his unique methodology as a means to mitigate the innate fear that accompanies all creative acts. By compartmentalizing the act of painting from constructing, he maximizes spontaneity without sacrificing control. When he’s ready to focus on a singular work, Lambert carefully extracts desired shapes, sometimes cutting out dozens of delicate arrangements for one piece. While undefined, the forms that populate these pieces exist at the edge of recognition, somehow a cross between knowing what it is and not knowing at all. Attracted to ambiguous forms that oscillate between abstract and familiar, the artist seeks to create images that challenge or defy the rules of known logic.


Winnowing figures from an ether of watercolor washes and acrylic brushstrokes, Lambert animates these forms across mounted paper on a self-made wooden board. The artist seeks resolution through contemplation and play, using painters-tape to rearrange and pose the collage elements before gluing them in place upon his cream, and now black colored stage. This ever-evolving process is beholden to the artist’s unconscious. Repetitive, glyph-like symbols, added in colored pencil, serve as navigational tools for the artist as much as the viewer. The artist describes the action as purely reactive, forcing him to slow down and relinquish control of his creation. As if whispering a spell, Lambert’s works often display illegible characters, rune-like textual fields, somewhat like mystic debris or evidence of the ritual of creation. Lambert writes,


“...for something like an image of fire, to appear hot like a flame, but also add to what that flame emotes…and if successful, create a space where the basic assumptions about the orthodoxy of these objects can be questioned according to the needs of those who look.”

Works
  • Chyrum Lambert, Immortal Jellyfish Awoke And Spoke, “Do You Hear What Is Meant In This?”, 2024
    Immortal Jellyfish Awoke And Spoke, “Do You Hear What Is Meant In This?”, 2024
  • Chyrum Lambert, Infinity Robed As A Multitude Of Infinities And Then Undressed As A Comparative Study Of Those Infinities, 2024
    Infinity Robed As A Multitude Of Infinities And Then Undressed As A Comparative Study Of Those Infinities, 2024
  • Chyrum Lambert, Pigment Or Syllable? Mechanism Or Natural Law? Volcanic Electricity Or Christ’s Teddy Bear?, 2024
    Pigment Or Syllable? Mechanism Or Natural Law? Volcanic Electricity Or Christ’s Teddy Bear?, 2024
  • Chyrum Lambert, Pussy Willow Or Slippered Fish, Cute Avatar Of Death Reflected, 2024
    Pussy Willow Or Slippered Fish, Cute Avatar Of Death Reflected, 2024
  • Chyrum Lambert, Right Out From Life Comes Right Out From Life, 2024
    Right Out From Life Comes Right Out From Life, 2024
  • Chyrum Lambert, Slow Motion Burden, Offspring Of Coaxing Yawn, 2024
    Slow Motion Burden, Offspring Of Coaxing Yawn, 2024
  • Chyrum Lambert, Some Light A Dark Room Uses, 2024
    Some Light A Dark Room Uses, 2024
  • Chyrum Lambert, Sparking Music And Slow Zests, The Star Is As Close As A Sun Gets, 2024
    Sparking Music And Slow Zests, The Star Is As Close As A Sun Gets, 2024
  • Chyrum Lambert, The Container Is Empty- The Container Is Full- This Is The Great Joy #1, 2024
    The Container Is Empty- The Container Is Full- This Is The Great Joy #1, 2024
  • Chyrum Lambert, The Container Is Empty- The Container Is Full- This Is The Great Joy #2, 2024
    The Container Is Empty- The Container Is Full- This Is The Great Joy #2, 2024
  • Chyrum Lambert, The Word Angel, Spelled S-P-I-D-E-R, 2024
    The Word Angel, Spelled S-P-I-D-E-R, 2024
  • Chyrum Lambert, This Form Of Life Is A Form Of Language, 2024
    This Form Of Life Is A Form Of Language, 2024
  • Chyrum Lambert, What Closing Petals On Poppies Do, 2024
    What Closing Petals On Poppies Do, 2024
  • Chyrum Lambert, Electric Hiccup In The Frogs Mouth, 2023
    Electric Hiccup In The Frogs Mouth, 2023
  • Chyrum Lambert, Ensemble Of An Organic Mystery Arriving, 2023
    Ensemble Of An Organic Mystery Arriving, 2023
  • Chyrum Lambert, Hot Jelly Of A Passing Coalescence, 2023
    Hot Jelly Of A Passing Coalescence, 2023
  • Chyrum Lambert, Pregnant Margarita, Charred, And Trembling Forever, 2023
    Pregnant Margarita, Charred, And Trembling Forever, 2023
  • Chyrum Lambert, Vaporous Spirit, Robotic Philosopher, Bumble Bee, 2023
    Vaporous Spirit, Robotic Philosopher, Bumble Bee, 2023
  • Chyrum Lambert, Fern Pops Last Spore In Defiance, 2022
    Fern Pops Last Spore In Defiance, 2022
  • Chyrum Lambert, How Do You Like Your World?, 2022
    How Do You Like Your World?, 2022
  • Chyrum Lambert, Is the word "Life" a Noun?, 2022
    Is the word "Life" a Noun?, 2022
  • Chyrum Lambert, Littlest Life Longs To Be Life Long Lived, 2022
    Littlest Life Longs To Be Life Long Lived, 2022
  • Chyrum Lambert, Naked Earth Ashamed Before Beam Of Sun , 2022
    Naked Earth Ashamed Before Beam Of Sun , 2022
  • Chyrum Lambert, Rare Thing Acquires Significance, 2022
    Rare Thing Acquires Significance, 2022
  • Chyrum Lambert, Spiritual Rod Used For Cracking Safe, 2022
    Spiritual Rod Used For Cracking Safe, 2022
  • Chyrum Lambert, There Are Wet Petaled Slugs In Bloom, 2022
    There Are Wet Petaled Slugs In Bloom, 2022
  • Chyrum Lambert, Bodies Of Organic And Biological Constellations Lay Within The Bodies of Organic And Biological Constellations, 2021
    Bodies Of Organic And Biological Constellations Lay Within The Bodies of Organic And Biological Constellations, 2021
  • Chyrum Lambert, Charred Trunk Upholds Remains, 2021
    Charred Trunk Upholds Remains, 2021
  • Chyrum Lambert, Crush Of Growth Stifles Progress, 2021
    Crush Of Growth Stifles Progress, 2021
  • Chyrum Lambert, Lightning Bolt Cracks Darkness, 2021
    Lightning Bolt Cracks Darkness, 2021
  • Chyrum Lambert, The Chain In Chains Enchaining, 2021
    The Chain In Chains Enchaining, 2021
  • Chyrum Lambert, Maybe A Rolling Tombstone Race, 2020
    Maybe A Rolling Tombstone Race, 2020
  • Chyrum Lambert, My Idea Is This—That The Flame, Pretending To Be A Snake— Is An Interesting Idea, 2020
    My Idea Is This—That The Flame, Pretending To Be A Snake— Is An Interesting Idea, 2020
  • Chyrum Lambert, Split Vine Overwhelms Arrival, 2020
    Split Vine Overwhelms Arrival, 2020
  • Chyrum Lambert, Another Flowering Hearth, 2018
    Another Flowering Hearth, 2018
  • Chyrum Lambert, The Word Arrived In Singular Solids— Mass, And More, And Made, For Many— Step Foot As Foot Stone., 2018
    The Word Arrived In Singular Solids— Mass, And More, And Made, For Many— Step Foot As Foot Stone., 2018
Biography

Born in 1980 near Tacoma, Washington, Chryrum Lambert is a self-taught artist who lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. Using a unique process that blurs the line between collage and traditional painting, Lambert creates forms that ambiguously oscillate between completely abstract and vaguely familiar. Lambert begins each piece with raw mark-making on paper before carefully extracting his brushstrokes in their organic shapes, eventually reassembling the pieces upon his signature surface consisting of cream-colored paper mounted on handmade wood panels. Drawn to dynamic, high-contrast jumps in color and particularly concerned with texture and tonal value, the artist takes great pleasure in altering and affecting his materials in order to extract their unique characteristics. More than anything, Lambert is interested in images that are in transition: growth, decay, signs of age or change, these are the qualities the artist seeks to embody through his work.    

 

Internationally published and exhibited, Lambert has shown at Palazzo Monti, Italy; Underdonk, New York; DTN Gallery, New York; Ed. Varie, New York; Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles; Hashimoto Contemporary, San Francisco; Independent Art Book Fair New York and Untitled Miami Beach Art Fairs among others. Lambert's work has been written about in New American Paintings; Artsy; The Wild Magazine; Juxtapoz Magazine; The Last Magazine; Sight Unseen; It's Nice That; and Paper Magazine amongst others.

Exhibitions
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