Chuck Kaiser

In 1985, while in the midst of my college career, (one which started as the pursuit of a music degree and ended with a degree in Philosophy) I stumbled upon the batik process. I knew almost immediately that I had found a medium that satisfied both my creative and analytical tendencies. Over the years I’ve been able to maintain my interest and love of batik by stretching the bounds of the medium. What you see before you today is the culmination of 25 years of incessant dabbling and exploration. Although in many cases I still do my initial “sketches” as fiber batiks, the majority of my work is executed on non-traditional surfaces such as newspaper and museum board, with the batik process serving as the core element of a mixed media approach to contemporary art. Along with waxes and dyes, my work includes the use of various texts, ink, colored pencil, acrylics and encaustics. All work is mounted, matted and framed with conservation quality materials. As for inspiration, I find it in all things, good and bad. My subject matter runs the gamut of current events to classical philosophy. One piece might be based on the stock market, the next on Hegel. As for graphic inspiration, everything from Jasper Johns to Aboriginal dreamscapes plays a role. My choice of newspaper as a surface lies somewhere between the information presented in the paper and my desire to promote a greener approach to life. To sum it up, I view my work as Contemporary American Batik. I intend it to be an approach to batik as reflective of my culture and background as African or Indonesian batiks would be of the work created by artists from those respective cultures. In essence, my work is to traditional batik as jazz is to classical music. Enjoy.