PHILADELPHIA, PA (January 9, 2020) -- The Brodsky Center at PAFA is pleased to publish a new lithograph by the Philadelphia-based artist Jonathan Lyndon Chase (MFA '16). For you For us Come back soon (2019) is the second print that Chase has created as the inaugural artist-in-residence at the Brodsky Center at PAFA.

Of the new work, Chase remarks, "There are fences in this print that describe society as a cage or net that traps and destroys bodies that don't fit in its puzzle. If you don't fit, it hurts. If I don't fit through, I am bent, cut, and unconsciously collaged into this energy or space—if I live, that is. Imprisonment can come in so many forms. Imprisonment is slavery, and jail is being kept in a house or, notably, in the closet, for lack of a better term.

"We are living in several spaces at the same time: American space, heterosexual space, hate-driven space—that's become a part of our history. This country is super invested in policing our bodies, in terms of race, gender, and sexuality. I see these all as identity and body politics. Every day you can hear or see police cars, officers, and the tangible and non-tangible ways that oppression utilizes hatred, fear, and ego to erase, control, kill, and injure queer and Black bodies.

"Race, gender, and sexuality are always at stake in my work. I've been painting interior public spaces with windows and doors, both as barriers or moments of separation between the figure and the outside world. Presenting multiple figures at once is a common theme, as well. In For you for us Come back soon, I took the opportunity to talk about the space around each individual body. Collage was a part of the process, by layering and manipulating the composition to achieve an urban landscape that is both soft and hard, and also open and closed."

About the Artwork

Jonathan Lyndon Chase, For you For us Come back soon (2019). Seven-color plate lithograph on Somerset Satin white paper, 38 x 30 ⅜ inches. Edition of 10.  Collaborating Master Printer: Peter Haarz. Published by the Brodsky Center at PAFA, Philadelphia.

For you For us Come back soon is published in an edition of 10, and is available for purchase. For more information, contact PAFA Art Sales Manager Leigh Werrell at lwerrell@pafa.org, or visit the Brodsky Center on Artsy.net.

About Jonathan Lyndon Chase

The work of Jonathan Lyndon Chase (American, b. 1989) in painting, print, and drawing speaks to the multifaceted nature of identity. Chase obtained a BFA from the University of the Arts, Philadelphia, in 2013, and an MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) in 2016. His work can be found in the collections of the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA; PAFA, Philadelphia; Rubell Museum Contemporary Arts Foundation, Miami, FL; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; The Wedge Collection, Toronto, Canada; and numerous other private national and international collections.

About the Brodsky Center at PAFA

The Brodsky Center was founded as the Rutgers Center for Innovative Print and Paper in 1986 by Judith Brodsky, an artist, printmaker, arts advocate, and professor of art at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. It was established as an international forum for the exchange of new ideas in print and papermaking processes and education. In 2006 it was renamed in honor of Judith Brodsky in recognition of her leadership and vision. In the summer of 2018, the Brodsky Center joined the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. The mission of the Brodsky Center aligns uniquely with the mission of PAFA to educate students and to develop and promote the work of outstanding and innovative artists. Since its founding, the Center has completed over 300 editions with a diverse range of emerging and established artists, including PAFA alumnus, Barkley L. Hendricks, and artists in PAFA's collection such as Melvin Edwards, Joan Semmel, and Richard Tuttle.