Cass Corridor, Connecting Times: JIM CHATELAIN and JOHN EGNER

JIM CHATELAIN (b. Findlay, Ohio, 1947)

A native of Findlay, Ohio, Jim Chatelain studied painting at Wayne State University in Detroit, receiving his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1971. His work, like that of his contemporaries living and working along the city’s Cass corridor, was recognized and supported early on by people such as collector James Duffy and Sam Wagstaff, Curator of Contemporary Art for the Detroit Institute of Arts.

Chatelain moved to New York, where his work was included in “‘Bad’ Paintings,” Marcia Tucker’s inaugural exhibition for the New Museum. He returned to Findlay for a number of years where he continued his studio practice while exhibiting extensively in Detroit — Chatelain has had 19 solo exhibitions in Metro Detroit during his career. His work was recently featured in “Another Look at Detroit: Parts 1 and 2” curated by Todd Levin and presented at Marianne Boesky Gallery and Marlborough Chelsea, New York. Chatelain’s work may be found in numerous private and public collections, including the Detroit Institute of Arts and Wayne State University. Chatelain currently lives and works in Delhi, NY and New York City.

JOHN EGNER (b. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1940)

John Egner attended the Philadelphia Museum College of Art (B.F.A. 1963) and Yale University (M.F.A. 1966), where he studied with Jack Tworkov and Frank Stella. He joined the faculty at Wayne State University in 1966 and soon became an influential force in the emerging Cass Corridor art community, as he was the first artist to move into Convention Hall, and was a founding member of the Willis Gallery.

Egners’ formalist approach to the problems of painting is exhibited in his use of grids as a compositional device. These first appear in his work in a series of patchwork like drawings that originated as designs for a carpet commissioned by collector James Duffy for his Grosse Pointe home. Similar drawings of color squares arranged in systematic configurations were used as the basis for Egner’s monumental wall painting on the park Shelton apartments on Woodward Avenue in 1974.

Egner’s work is part of several museum and private collections, including the Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY, and Wayne State University, Detroit, MI. He currently lives and works in Andes, NY.