@chloe.m.west · Atwater Village, Sep 28 – Nov 4, 2025

Chloe West

Chloe's figurative paintings fuse the drama of Baroque art with the vastness of the American West, channeling memento mori and vanitas traditions from Medieval and Renaissance painting. Raised in Wyoming, she often works with objects and imagery pulled directly from her own history.

From the residency

Chloe had never been to LA before this residency. She arrived with a detailed day-by-day plan for her five paintings — down to the exact paint brands. On a hike in Griffith Park, she spotted an animal skull and picked it up without hesitation: "I wish we would have found this sooner, so I could have painted it."

Read the full write-up

Chloe West and I were heading back from a hike in Griffith Park when I noticed an entire animal skull on the ground and pointed it out. Without hesitation, Chloe excitedly picked it up with her hands. "I wish we would have found this sooner, so I could have painted it," she exclaimed. Everything in Chloe West's work has a very personal connection to her. She finds all the objects, or they are family heirlooms. She takes all the photos of the landscapes and herself. She crafts the imagery into the perfectly synthesized edit. She paints every precise stroke. The finished products are an embodiment of herself.

Before the residency began, I got an email from Chloe West specifying the exact canvases she would need. When she arrived, she showed me a detailed day by day plan to complete her five (now six) paintings. She looked up every material and knew everything would be available in store besides the Chelsea Classical Studio Lavender Spike Oil Essence, which would require an additional stop. When we got to Blick, she meticulously picked out the Old Holland oil paints from a handwritten list. I learned Old Holland oil paints were incredibly smooth in comparison to their counterparts. To achieve the level of meticulous detail West does, it takes a diligent system.

Before this residency, Chloe West had never been to Los Angeles. Through exploration, she's discovered the beauty of the landscapes here and even included them in some of the paintings she's made at the residency.

West was raised in Wyoming near Cheyenne Frontier Days, the world's largest outdoor rodeo nicknamed "Daddy of 'em All." West's father took her mother to this rodeo when they arrived in Wyoming, which happened to be the very rodeo that killed Lane Frost after he was gored by a bull. This story inspired a previous painting of West's named "Gored Cowboy." West's parents are both artists. She remembers another artist visiting her parents on his horse named Black Jack. That artist was Luiz Jimenez who coincidentally has a show at Matthew Marks while West is in town. Chloe West sounds like a name made up by a writer. If you didn't meet her, hear about her background directly and see the quality of her work, you might believe she was fictitious.

— David Maxwell, Flower Residency Host