Chris Sageman is a fellow Allston neighborhood skater and artist. I’ve been an admirer of his work for some time— jealous of his loose confidence. His articulate layering. Chris paints nondescript mixes of cosmic disorder contrasted with bold pop symbolism. The compositions work. His colors are light, and his even more light-hearted notes make you smile. His paintings have a solid fluidity— the way your eyes move around the painting is like skating fast on concrete DIY transition and slappy curbs. He hardlines then back shades. He scribbles and blasts over. I have fun looking at Chris’ work and it looks like Chris has fun painting— it makes me want to pick up a pastel stick; or five, and give way way way less of a fuck in front of a canvas.

With the upcoming Dark, Sharp, & Burning Show at EXIT on Friday night, we visited Chris at his home and studio to learn a bit more about his practice. Chris paints in his living room, and he hopes his landlord doesn’t see this and/or the massive amount of holes and layers of paint on the wall and floor of his apartment. 

When did you start painting? How did you get into it?

Chris: I started painting my junior year of art school, I was mostly doing drawing and small sculptures up until that point. I think I had gotten to the point with my drawings where it seemed like they were more of a step of a process than a final result. Most of the things I was drawing then became parts of paintings, and my process today still involves a heavy amount of brainstorming through drawing, which becomes most of the subject matter in my work.

Can you talk about the writing that can be found within your paintings? Where do the words come from?

CS: The phrases and words I use in my paintings come from a lot of places. It could be a line from a song, or a text message, or even a conversation I overheard. The way I think is sort of sporadic and so a lot of the text I use in the work is bits and pieces of one thought, I try to leave the viewer clues to figure some part of that thought out. Written language is super flexible and depending on what symbol or drawing I put next to a group of words it can totally change the narrative of what that text means. On the other side, sometimes I will use a word as a drawing, some words looks really great or fit into a space within the painting really well and then the word takes on definition as the painting develops.

Your technique is pretty loose and layered. How’d you get into this process?

A lot of the stuff I like the most in my paintings is the stuff I thought the least about when I painted it. I think painting loose and fast can make things happen that if you were slow and tactical might not happen. The layers serve as a sort of insurance for the really loose painting style. I use the layers to cover up or highlight things, and then the process repeats. It’s a lot of me figuring out things as I go which is something I like showing through the layers, I show you how I made this layer of color by framing it with some other aspect of the painting. The layers also help with depth and giving things more density on the surface.

How do you know when you’re finished with a piece?

I usually get to a point where I feel like I’ve put everything on the painting that I can, and then I sleep on it and try to look at it for a while the next day. A lot of the time it’s chasing the feeling of it being solved, which is hard to articulate. But that's what makes painting really interesting.

The sneaker game at your crib is fire. Top three pairs ever?

I’ve always really liked the golden era chunky skate shoes like Kalis OG’s, Koston 1’s, Accel OG’s, and stuff like that. But lately I’ve been into more technical shoes with a lot of comfort like the Nike M2K or the New Balance 913 Westgate. I really don’t buy that many pairs, but between having worked at Vans and now Orchard for almost three years I get to see, handle, and sell so many shoes that I can check them out and handle them a lot without buying them. I currently paint out of my one bedroom apartment, so there is a only so much space for large paintings and shoes.

a lot of your works feel like a mind map. Are you trying to discover something when you set in on a new piece?

Less to discover, more to solve or work something out. I usually have a composition in mind and as I add elements into the painting I try to organize everything into a sort of map. I have always liked how a page of notes or brainstorming looks compositionally and a lot of that plays out in my painting. It’s sort of a personal system of figuring the painting out. A lot of my work is based on a sort of a-symmetrical grid that I have in my head, I am not always sure what will go into what spot but I usually have an idea of where a form or text will go and I try to organize the layout by adding layers of color around each area. I show how I made the painting by keeping older layers peaking through, which sort of creates a three dimensional aspect to the map

See more of Chris’ work at the upcoming show Dark, Sharp, and Burning on Friday May 17th or on his personal website or instagram