Chula Tupper:
Love Letters

July 1 - August 31, 2024

@ The Collins Pub / Pioneer Square

Featured Image: “Transforming Swan Lake”, 2023, Graphite on wood panel, 24” x 24”

Love Letters

Chula Says:

NEW WORK

  • Exploring the light and dark of the fairy tale romance.

  • During the day, roses are hand delivered just outside the castle walls.

  • At night a bewitching owl watches the swans change back to human form.

OLD WORK

To juxtapose the new artwork I chose to show some paintings done over the years, during which

I’ve been fortunate to exhibit at some great venues:

  • Rita Dean Gallery, San Diego, CA

  • Debra Owen Gallery, San Diego, CA

  • Equinox Gallery, Seattle, WA

  • Roq La Rue, Seattle, WA

  • Friesen Gallery, Seattle, WA

  • Friesen Gallery, Sun Valley, ID

  • Brassworks Gallery, Portland, OR

A special thanks to CoCA for all the support from the many ‘They Shoot Painters, Don’t They’ marathons to solo shows.

Public Viewing at The Collins Pub:
Every day, 11am - close (~9pm)
526 2nd Ave, Seattle, WA 98104

Pioneer Square First Thursday Art Walk:
Thursday July 11th and August 1st, 2024 from 5-9pm

Ray Says:

Chula has been a part of the CoCA family for some time. He has participated in numerous CoCA Marathons, including one from which I bought a painting, leading me to realize he was my neighbor.

His work has been featured in prior solo shows at CoCA, and he curated the show “Food on the Table and a Roof over Head” at our Belltown Gallery in 2008, where he installed a (non-functional, but realistic) tattoo shop, complete with tattoo station, drawing station, needle making area, hat and coat rack, etc., and assembled a show of artwork that you might find hanging in a tattoo shop as well, featuring the work of his fellow tattoo artists.

- Ray C. Freeman III, CoCA President

Chula was born in San Diego, where he graduated from the School of Creative and Performing Arts, and then attended SDSU as a Fine Arts Major until leaving to study painting an tattooing independently.

Leaving San Diego in 1992, Chula relocated to Seattle where he focused on painting, eventually building a following in Seattle’s contemporary art community.

In the year 2000, Chula joined The Seattle Tattoo Emporium as a full time tattooist, and in 2006 became a partner of the P.A Stephens Tattoo Emporium family when he opened a private tattoo studio in Seattle’s Columbia City neighborhood. In 2010 he opened Tiger Tiger Tattoo in Seattle’s Nihonmachi (Japantown) to provide a visual narrative of the world of tattooed culture.

CoCA ShowWalls is a show opportunity for CoCA Artist in partnership with local businesses.