Matthew Chambers I Brendan Fowler I Rashid Johnson I Jason Kraus

RENTAL is proud to present an exhibition featuring the artwork of Matthew Chambers, Brendan Fowler, Rashid Johnson and Jason Kraus. This exhibition brings together four extraordinary young artists working in a variety of media and documents their unique approaches to the process of producing art. Artworks in this exhibition include paintings, drawings, sculpture, and mixed media artworks.

Matthew Chambers (b. 1982) has exhibited in solo exhibitions with Blanket Gallery, Vancouver, Broadway 1602 in New York and Angstrom Gallery in Los Angeles among others. Chambers founded the Los Angeles based art project space TRUDI, and produced exhibitions with a number of successful emerging artists. Past artistic projects have included a long running narrative of a mythical street gang known as “MAVIS”, a project that spanned a number of gallery projects. Matthew received his BFA from the University of Miami in 2004, and his MFA from the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles in 2006.

Brendan Fowler (b. 1978) is featured in “The Generational: Younger Than Jesus” at the New Museum for Contemporary Art. He has had solo exhibitions with Rivington Arms in New York and 2nd Cannons in Los Angeles and is currently participating in “Vaguely Paperly” curated by Chris Johanson at Kavi Gupta Gallery in Chicago. Brendan’s work frequently relates to his musical career, performed under the name BARR, and incorporates posters from BARR’s canceled music tours that have been altered and elaborated upon. Brendan received his BFA from Sarah Lawrence College in 2002.

Rashid Johnson (b. 1977) has been featured in numerous solo exhibitions in galleries and museums in the US and abroad, including shows at Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, The Powerhouse and Magdeburger Kunstmuseum. He was included in the Rubell Collection’s “30 Americans” exhibition in Miami in 2008, and the seminal “Freestyle” exhibition at the Studio Museum in Harlem, curated by Thelma Golden, in 2001. Johnson’s work frequently employs a range of media including photography, video, audio and sculpture. Rashid received his BA from Columbia College in Chicago (1996- 2000) and studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2004-5).

Jason Kraus (b. 1983) recently made his debut with dual solo exhibitions with Redling Fine Art in Los Angeles and Redling Fine Art at RENTAL in New York. In April 2009 Kraus will be featured in a two-person exhibition with Martin Kersels at Renwick Gallery in New York. Jason’s exhibitions with Redling Fine Art, “Looking On” centered around the act of spectatorship and utilized stock Betamax footage of Evil Knievel events where Knievel has been removed from the image, juxtaposed with cast sculptures of damaged automobile parts and a large jump ramp in an abandoned lot outside the gallery in LA. Kraus received his BFA from the California Institute of the Arts in 2008 and lives and works in New York and Los Angeles.