VISUAL ARTS + MUSEUMS

The Jung Center of Houston presents Virtuous Realities: New Digital Paintings by Chalda Maloff, February 2-26, 2010. A reception will be held Saturday, February 6, 2010, 5:00 -7:00 p.m. at the Jung Center.

Chalda Maloff's art explores the powerful aesthetic potential of the digital medium. Maloff describes this new body of work as decisively spiritual, upbeat and emotionally evocative. “Virtuous refers to the positive values represented in the pieces, realities suggests that each painting is its own cosmos. And of course, Virtuous Realities is a play on words in that my art is created using a computer.”

Although Maloff has been part of several group shows in Houston, she is especially pleased to have her first solo show in Houston at the Jung Center. “It's a perfect venue for my work,” she says. Trained in art history, computer science, and human ecology (which she studied at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston), Maloff brings a range of skills and concerns to her art.

Maloff's new work is both a continuation of past themes and a departure into new territory. “Math and science factor into all my work, effecting strongly integrated compositions based on geometry and a fractal-like level of detail,” she says, “but this work is more personal. It's a clear expression of who I am, who I have been, and what I have to say. I am simultaneously a pragmatic scientist and spiritual seeker.” Her painting Dogma Abandoned charts her process of shedding previously held beliefs. “I worked through this image while coming to a realization that I was holding a core group of beliefs that were incorrect and were limiting my growth and happiness,” recalls Maloff. “I needed to step away and let those loose.” Another painting, Promise of Life in the Dead of Winter, explores the importance of holding a clear image of optimism even during extended periods of adversity.

She finds her training as a human ecologist a significant influence. “In human ecology, you are always looking for interactions,” she says. “I do this visually with my painting in considering how one element affects the whole. A painting is like an ecosystem.”

Although Maloff has worked in a variety of media, digital art affords her the greatest range of aesthetic possibilities. With an electronic pen, tablet, computer software, and her 9800 Epson printer, Maloff has the tools she needs. “I am drawn to digital because I can work in a level of detail that would be nearly impossible to attain in any natural media,” she says. “I work in 400 pixels-per-inch resolution, and combined with my image size and number of layers, I often reach the outer limits of what current systems will allow. My image files are huge and my computer crashes regularly.” She appreciates the enhanced creative flow afforded by the digital medium. “I can make a brush stroke and undo it, tweak my entire palette or re-crop my image in an instant,” she says.

Currently Maloff's work is on view at Museo de Arte Contemporáneo del Zulia in Maracaibo, Venezuela; Studio2gallery in Austin, Texas; Museum of Small Arts Collections in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Verizon Gallery in Irving, Texas; and Brenda Taylor Gallery in New York City. Recent solo exhibits have been at the Laredo Center for the Arts in Texas and Morris Graves Museum of Art in California.

Maloff composes her lyrical paintings to have an immediate impact. “I want the viewer to have an instant payoff,” she says, “yet many of the elements reveal themselves only gradually.”

To learn more about Chalda Maloff’s work, visit www.chalda.com.

Pictured:  courtesy Chalda Maloff - Dogma Abandoned, digital painting, archival inkjet print on canvas, 30”x 30”.  Detail above, full image below.