Chyrum Lambert's Innovative Paper Cutout Art Redefines Abstract Expression
Chyrum Lambert's artistic journey in Los Angeles has culminated in a novel approach to abstract art, where he transforms painted paper and archived photographs into intricate, multi-dimensional compositions. His process, deeply rooted in the artistic community of LA, challenges conventional painting techniques, offering a unique blend of control and intuition in the creation of his visually rich artworks.
Artist Chyrum Lambert Redefines Abstraction with Paper and Photography in Los Angeles
In the vibrant artistic landscape of Los Angeles, where innovation thrives, artist Chyrum Lambert has carved out a unique niche, developing a distinctive method that melds painterly abstractions with meticulously crafted paper cutouts and photographic elements. Since his arrival in the city in 2012, Lambert, who possesses no formal art education beyond high school, found himself profoundly impacted by the burgeoning community of artists and poets. This environment, he notes, provided the fertile ground from which his entire artistic practice blossomed, fostering connections and inspirations he had never before experienced.
For over a decade, Lambert has been exploring alternatives to traditional painting. His technique involves applying acrylic paints to large sheets of paper, varying in texture from matte to glossy. On these surfaces, he meticulously creates grids filled with diverse painterly gestures—from fluid squiggles and bold strokes to perfect circles. He describes this process as an almost “micromanaged approach,” allowing him to dictate every nuance of the mark-making. His studio, a bustling hub of creativity in central Los Angeles, is often filled with these poster-sized sheets, each receiving weeks of dedicated attention. Lambert frequently uses his fingers, rubber-tipped spatulas, or squeegees to achieve the desired levels of opacity and transparency, noting that these tools enable marks impossible to replicate on a conventional canvas.
The finest of these painted gestures are then carefully cut out, sometimes further trimmed, and their edges inked to eliminate any visible white paper. Lambert organizes these cutouts by color—greens, purples, pinks, blues, and ochres—storing them on sheet pans in an industrial rack, evocative of dough rising in a bakery. Other arrangements are temporarily affixed to his studio walls, often alongside poetic phrases scrawled on paper scraps, such as “capacity exceeds coffin” or “plain and simple, meteors colliding.” This poetic sensibility extends beyond his visual art; in 2021, Lambert published an artist book of concrete poetry, titled Fore Word to an After World, a project undertaken during a year-long hiatus from painting. He prefers working with paper cutouts over direct application to canvas, appreciating the “distance from the material” this method provides.
Ultimately, these individual components are mounted onto custom-carved and configured wood panels. Lambert approaches this assembly with an acute awareness of how each element is framed within the larger composition, emphasizing the sculptural nature of his work. “The process of putting these things together is much more sculptural than typical painting,” he explains, highlighting the three-dimensional quality and intricate arrangement inherent in his finished pieces.
More recently, Lambert has expanded his repertoire to include photographic elements. A friend had preserved an extensive archive of approximately 10,000 analog images Lambert captured in the early 2000s. After scanning and cataloging these photographs, predominantly impressionistic landscapes from the Pacific Northwest, where he resided before moving to LA, Lambert discovered that these images seamlessly integrate with his painted marks. This fusion, he believes, injects a deeper sense of “reality” into his abstract creations.
The act of collaging these disparate parts is largely intuitive, yet Lambert perceives it as a means to impose order. He seeks to “present a system that was arrived at by my irrational choices,” drawing parallels between his visual arrangements and his poetic compositions. He views the layout of his artwork akin to a page, with each artistic element serving as a form of “text.”
Chyrum Lambert’s innovative practice offers a compelling exploration of abstraction, material, and process. His work invites viewers to consider the intersections of painting, sculpture, and photography, demonstrating how an artist can transcend traditional boundaries to create new dimensions of visual experience. His journey underscores the power of artistic communities and the boundless possibilities that arise when creativity is allowed to flourish outside conventional structures.