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Artist Chris Yambar exhibition A NEW DIRECTION
By GUY D’ASTOLFO
YOUNGSTOWN
Chris Yambar is taking a new direction in his upcoming exhibition, “Artist & Model.”
The Youngstown-based pop artist has developed a very recognizable style, and one of his signature genres involves the dramatic colorization of iconic photos. The prolific artist has created hundreds of them, turning photos of rock stars and other celebrities into something vibrant and electric.
In his new exhibit, which premieres Friday at Soap Gallery and runs through Oct. 28, the hard-working artist relies even more on his own vision by becoming his own photographer.
As the title suggests, Yambar worked with an anonymous lingerie-clad model to create a series of bodyscape images that highlight the female form. He then focused on segments of the high-contrast photos and added swaths of color. The result is more than 200 pleasing pieces that might appear abstract at first glance but then reveal themselves.
The exhibit by Yambar – who has also long been a writer and artist for “Simpsons” comic books – also will help mark another milestone: the one-year anniversary of Soap Gallery, which is at 117 S. Champion St., downtown.
The weekend-long event will begin with a black-mask artist’s reception from 8 p.m. to midnight Friday. Admission is $30 per person and will include a limited-edition signed print, pillow case and event button. Hors d’oeuvres and refreshments will be served. Attendees will be encouraged to participate in a special fetish lingerie and fantasy cosplay fashion walk for prizes. Local band Punk Willie will perform.
Friday’s event will immediately follow the gallery’s Art Walk, a mini-festival that takes place monthly in the street and neighboring lot.
Then on Saturday from 2 to 6 p.m., the gallery will host a general reception for Yambar that is free and open to the public and will include music by the acoustic duo The McCabes.
Yambar is celebrating his 30th year of painting and has created nearly 3,600 images in his career. His paintings can be found in private and corporate collections, museums and galleries in the United States, England, France, Germany, Canada, Russia and Puerto Rico, including the Ronald Reagan Library, the P.T. Barnum Museum, the Bill Clinton Time Capsule at the Smithsonian, and Germany’s Hummel Museum.
His portraits can be found in nearly 90 celebrity estates.
Yambar has been battling health issues over the past year, from which he is still bouncing back.
After he took a fall in the summer of 2015, he dealt with the MRSA virus as well as sepsis. These complicated his struggle with diabetes and kidney failure. He has lost vision in his right eye and has diminished sight in the other eye.
His recovery is concurrent with his new approach to art.
“It’s a renaissance, a new beginning and a new type of art,” he said, pointing out that his health issues came after the decision to move in a new direction.
In “Artist & Model,” Yambar works in increments of 24. “You will see one image 24 times, but with different backgrounds,” he said. “They evoke a range of reactions.”
The exhibition has energized Yambar.
“I’m so excited and charged up,” he said. “It is the beginning of the rest of my life.”
Yambar will continue to work in the new style going forward. He plans to create up to 600 images a year.