Chase Henderson grew up on a mountain near Charleston, WV. Lacking human contact he was forced to create his own world and talk about himself in the third person for entertainment. He went to Marshall University to study computers and writing, but mostly computers. Burdened with this knowledge he moved back to Charleston where he lives with his wife and peddles his dark arts of system administration. Sometimes when the moon is full you can hear him howling at his laptop battery in local cafes.
While seeking validation as a writer of fiction, the industry responded, “your work needs more vampires, but we will buy your pictures of naked ladies.” This might actually be a step up. So the whole art thing was just a lovely misunderstanding. His work has been described as figurative illustrations in a very striking minimalist style. Usually these pieces star the female form in gestures that strike an emotional chord with the viewer.
His style is heavily influenced by comics and cartoons in a way that is often confused with Art Nouveau and sometimes compared to Alphonse Mucha. He’d prefer being compared to his influence Audrey Kawasaki who paints minimalist female figures on wood, but people who graduate from the Art School of Youtube can’t be choosers.
After starting his “Nudes Out of Nowhere” series Chase has branched out into incorporating photography in his work. The “Nudes Out of Nowhere” series (still ongoing) featured illustrations of his signature nudes super imposed over photographs of the Charleston area. This has lead into a dive into photography that has gotten him recognition by the head of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals during their yearly Worldwide Photowalk.
His photographic style incorporates strange and experimental techniques like taking very long exposures, movement, and out of focus objects in front of the lens to create surreal, in-camera effects similar to the Victorian spirit photos. This is strongly exhibited in his “Haunted Charleston” series of photographs. He’s recently started to pursue cinematography by shooting the feature length film Ladybeard.
All this may seem unconnected, but it’s been something Chase has been building over his course as an artist. Like a giant rubber band ball.
After chasing all the monsters out of the NYC subway, Chase was named director of the Charleston branch of Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School. He offers burlesque themed figure drawing sessions on the third Sunday of each month on the East End.
Do you want to hire me for something? But are hesitant? Here’s a resume.
