statement
There is, and has always been, a realist component to nearly everything I make. What I choose to represent has changed over time: I have used the figure, landscape, and still life as subject. For the past two years, animals have been my central subjects. I find their complex forms and varied textures endlessly interesting, and I also find their bearings compelling. They have qualities of naivety, insight, and also vulnerability.
My work has humorous elements, but it is ultimately strange and carries a somewhat dark undercurrent. I place my animal subjects in situations rife with small concerns and minor annoyances. There are bugs, strange weather, and troubling predicaments. Some works depict mutations that leave a viewer uneasy. The larger result is a circumstance where nothing is clearly wrong, and perhaps everything is fine. But perhaps any minute something might turn terribly wrong and a situation that seemed under control might spin out into something far more upsetting or not. This is my vision and it is representative (for me) of the larger state of things.
In my studio practice, I move back and forth between painting, drawing, and three dimensional constructions, usually working alone, but sometimes with collaborators. Painting is the segment of my work that produces the clearest “product”; these works are the most time-consuming and the most archival that I make. They tend to be my most highly-resolved works in terms of drawing, color, surface, and complexity. My drawings often contain collaged materials, text, or metal leaf, and are sometimes shown framed but other times cut out and mounted on foam board. These pieces might be displayed wall mounted, suspended, or standing within a gallery space. My three dimensional work is often interactive, and in many of the pieces, viewers need to handle or use them in order to fully understand them. All three approaches are of equal importance to me, and I rarely pursue one approach for much more than six months at a time before returning to one of the other categories. My body of work is the sum-total of these three art-making methods.
bio
born: 1961, West Chester, Pennsylvania
education
University of Wisconsin/Madison, 1988 MFA
Tyler School of Art, 1983, BFA
selected awards/honors
The Studios at Key West, 4 week artist residency fellowship, 2013
Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, 3 week residency fellowship, 2012
Marie Christine Kohler Fellowship, 1986-88
selected publications
New American Paintings (mid-atlantic), Volume 81, Open Studios Press, Boston, MA 2009
Studio Visit Magazine, spring 2009, Open Studios Press, Boston MA
selected solo or two-person exhibits
"Creature (dis)Comforts", the Banana Factory, Bethlehem, PA, 2012 (solo)
"Animal Instinct", Pennsylvania College of Technology, Williamsport, PA 2011 (solo)
"Cheryl Hochberg, Recent Works", Babcock Gallery, Sweetbriar College, Amberst, VA 2011
"Petting Zoo: the Collaborative Works of Cheryl Hochberg and Andrew Brehm, Washington Art Asooc., Washington, CT, 2009
selected group shows
"The Day on Fire; the Apocalypse in Contemporary Art", Slocumb Galleries, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN 2012
"New Country: Ruralism in Contemporary Art", Morehead State University, Morehead, KY 2012
"Terra Enigmatica", Kirkland Art Center, Clinton, NY, 2011
"More Serious Business", Fowler Family Center, Bethlehem, PA, 2010
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