The danger in categorizing Denver artist Taiko Chandler as a printmaker is that the term might prevent one who hasn’t encountered her work from imagining its dimension, movement and transparency—not to mention the intricacies of the process required to create it. And for Chandler, that process is everything. Says the artist, who began studying her craft at the Art Students League of Denver in 2011, “I begin with a blank piece of paper and start layering stencils onto the plate. I respond to each layer, add new stencils, and keep going until I feel the piece is finished. The visual outcome is always a surprise.” Several years ago, Chandler began applying her organic designs to flexible sheets of Tyvek house wrap instead of paper and attaching them to walls, from which they grew into large installations. These ephemeral works exist only as long as an exhibition lasts. In contrast, she might spend three months printing and hand-cutting an installation’s 100 or so pieces, then another week on the painstaking process of placing them. “Everything is done by hand, so nothing is particularly efficient,” Chandler says, “but I find it to be very satisfying. I often think my art is my way of processing the world around me, so everything happens subconsciously in ways that I cannot easily explain.” taikochandler.com
