“These heads are not exactly beautiful, but they have the kind of fascinating ugliness we associate with that much-abused category – the Grotesque. There are nods in the direction of Arcimboldo, Picasso, the Surrealists and the Chicago imagists, but each drawing has its own personality. “
John McDonald, Sydney Morning Herald, August 24, 2013
"C.J.Pyle (b.1956) is an obsessive, self-taught artist and long-term drummer for an Indianapolis band called The Late Show. Among his formative influences Pyle lists of-beat cartoonists such as Big Daddy Ed Roth and Basil Wolverton, but his own works, done with ballpoint pen and coloured pencils don’t have the same frenetic weirdness. Pyle’s ‘portraits’ are more formal in style, like mug shots or passport photos. Each face is a mass of knotted and woven strands, inlaid with small, slit-like eyes."
John McDonald, Sydney Morning Herald, August 24, 2013
Pyle’s work offers a unique perspective on the vernacular legacies of the Chicago Imagists, whose influence on the artist seep through in different works on display (for instance, finely articulated hair and clothing patterns evoke the work of Christina Ramberg, or the optically intricate line weavings of Ray Yoshida).
... Pyle’s solo exhibitions don’t necessarily contain a certain body of work or act as bookends to a particular set of ideas or conceptual stimuli. The artist explains that his intuition guides the progression from piece to piece, as it does his compositions, his mark-making, his choice of colors. In a way, his entire oeuvre is a career-long continuation of a single practice: his laborious style of “knotted” mark-making with ballpoint penupon found paper material.
Pyle’s adoption of ballpoint pen in his drawing began decades ago when he was a touring musician and free pens were the medium readily at hand. Over the years, Pyle has studied, researched and mastered the practice of drawing with a ballpoint pen. ... [which] Pyle uses to render vastly differing textures, from smooth “ropes” to soft “wool” to the simple lines of the subject’s stubbly collarbone...
The LP sleeves, the backs of which are so often the surface Pyle draws upon, are holdover from his music career. Compared to the glossy print of the album covers, the versos are a kind of blank canvas, though, in Pyle’s hands, even this plain paper board incites his aesthetic decisions. For the artist, the matte, lightly sealed surface is ideal for retaining the strokes of the pen; the square format and the head and shoulders of his subjects are in perfect harmony.
Though his own life makes it into the drawings in subtle ways, Pyle’s work is resolutely imaginative and borrows Picasso’s adage regarding the kind of “shock” or “jolt” an artist experiences with a certain combination of aesthetic elements, though, with Pyle’s labor-intensive, tremendously precise drawings, it’s hard to imagine any decisions taking place within a mere moment. Indeed, the nature of the artist’s craft is such that each of these impulses arrives in the midst of slow, tedious handiwork.
-Robin Dluzen, 2020
Artist & Critic
Chris Pyle (Christopher John Pyle) was born in Richmond Indiana.
" I played from the mid-seventies into the early nineties as a traveling musician. There'd be down time because of sound checks, breaks, traveling, etc. and I would while away the time perfecting the weave. As a child, I loved the detailed ink work of Basil Wolverton and also loved making rope knots--I tied hundreds of them -- and became fixated on the weave of the rope. I like making two-color portraits; I don't really know why I just do. I also fixated on creating an image with limited color much more challenging than one created with many colors.So those two inspirations somehow found their way into my personal artwork many years later - they're the foundation for my work. " Chris Pyle
Pyle’s work also offers a unique perspective on the vernacular legacies of the Chicago Imagists, whose influence on the artist are evident.
GALLERY SHOWS AND EXHIBITIONS:
C.J.Pyle From the Neck Up, Olsen Sydney in association with Hughes Art. 6 - 23 March 2024
Raw Vision/25 years of Art Brut, 25th anniversary exhibition. Halle St Pierre Museum, Paris France. Sept 18, 2013 - Aug 22, 2014
C.J.Pyle - D.J. Ojekere, The Hughes Gallery. Sydney, Australia. Aug 10 - Sept 4, 2013
Outside - In, University of North Carolina Pembroke. July 24 - Sept 6, 2013
Forever Young, Good News Only, Chicago IL. March 3 - May 25, 2012.
C.J.Pyle - Scott Ogden, Twisted, Ricco Maresca Gallery. New York, New York. June 23 - Aug 19, 2011
C.J.Pyle - Skin Deep, Carl Hammer Gallery, Chicago IL. Oct 28 - Dec 30, 2011
Forget me NOT: Self Taught Portraits, Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art, Chicago IL. Sept 10 - Dec 31, 2010
C.J.Pyle - Kilroy's Delight, Carl Hammer Gallery, Chicago IL. Oct 2009
Midwestern Blab!, A+D Gallery, Chicago IL. June 2009
Primal, Carl Hammer Gallery, Chicago IL. June 2009
Blab! Show, Copro Nason Gallery. Los Angeles CA. Sept 2008
Blab! Museum Retrospective, Mirianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art, Manhattan KS. Aug 2008
Blab! Show, Philip Slein Gallery, St. Louis MO. Oct 2007
Blab! Shoe, Copro Nason Gallery, Los Angeles CA. 2007