Andrew Chalfen

Andrew Chalfen is an artist and musician living in Philadelphia. His art is of worlds inspired by aerial views, fly-over zones, cartography, architectural renderings, ripples, radiances, fractal blooms, and other natural and man-made patterns. Though often overtly psychedelic and obsessive in impact, his works also function as meditations, both in their creation and in their appreciation. Drawings from this collection first began appearing in 2008 after the artist had finger surgery on his guitar fretting hand. (Ask him about his non-cancerous bone-eating tumor.) Unable to play music for months, he found that drawing these intricate patterns fulfilled much of his ever-present need to be creative, to have the forward momentum of making art. It is his hope that the viewer might not know what to focus on first, become pleasantly overwhelmed, then experience the calm of losing oneself in the details in pattern. A sort of visual acupuncture. Most of his art pieces are intended to be displayed as the displayer sees fit. "Up" is how one happens to feel about it at the time.