Chase Barney is a 2022 MFA candidate at the School of the Art Institute Chicago. Barney graduated with a BFA from the University of Minnesota in 2019 and has exhibited across the United States receiving numerous grants and scholarships in support of his work, including a 2020 Minnesota State Arts Board Grant and the New Artist Full Merit Scholarship from SAIC. Barney is originally from Utah, and currently lives and works in Chicago, IL.
My work is aiming for utopia, but I’m willing to settle for just being tolerable. Clay’s ability to immortalize collective and personal experiences, turning the intangible into tangible objects, excites me. Crafting ceramic figurines, vessels, and relief sculptures gives me the power to revise, invent, and project narratives placing queer joy and religious melancholy at the center of my work.
As a Mormon youth, I was powerless to the dominant religious fervor of Utah culture. I would escape into the fantasies surrounding me: Bible stories, tales of righteous men conversing with angels, The Wizard of Oz on VHS, visits to the glitzy Las Vegas strip, and the sparkle of costumed men performing with tigers.
The conflict resulting from my present-day identity as a proud gay man and my past as an obedient Mormon creates a tension utopias are designed to lack. The façade of my objects lures the viewer in with color, narrative, and humor. These elements overshadow the creepy action and unsettling sweetness in each scene, hinting at an unpleasantness lurking beneath the gloss.