Working in Tacoma, Washington as a muralist, Christopher Paul Jordan (b.1990) saw first hand the restorative power of public art to mend divisions, cultivate dialogue, and open space for historically marginalized communities to coexist. Acutely aware of the infrastructures, both physical and social, digital and analog, that serve to reinforce colonialism, Jordan’s work synthesizes virtual, performative, and painterly modes of practice to create open lines of communication between diasporic communities across continents and eras.

To embody the experience of displacement, Jordan works with delicate wire mesh screen windows. First applying expressive swaths of acrylic to a canvas, the color is then pressed against and transferred to the mesh, leaving the inverted image to reside tenuously in the fragile warp and weft. The resulting work becomes embedded with the joys and uncertainties that accompany human relationships and relocations. In his narrative painted works, Jordan decontextualizes representational images—figures in the midst of labor or leisure—to relay memories across generations. These time capsules containing repressed testimonies, along with installations that engage viewers to reimagine our shared rituals, serve to repurpose buried histories into inclusive collectivities.

Jordan recently received his MFA in Painting and Printmaking at Yale University, New Haven, CT (2023), and prior studied Studio Arts at the University of the West Indies St Augustine (2014). He has been the subject of many institutional exhibitions, recently included at the Frye Art Museum, Seattle, US (2022); Bellevue Arts Museum, Bellevue, US (2020); Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, Bainbridge, US (2019); Photographic Center Northwest, Seattle, US (2019); and Visual AIDS, New York, US (2018). He has shown most recently at the following venues: Veronica Projects Space, Seattle, WA (2024); Night Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (2024); Galerie Nicolas Robert, Montreal, QC (2024); Mahler-LeWitt Studios, Perugia, IT (2024); NARANJO 141, Mexico City, MX (2023); Spurs Gallery, Beijing, CN (2023); and Perrotin, New York, NY (2023). Jordan currently lives and works in New Haven, CT. 

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