Artmaking is a way to make sense of the countless tangential streams of information that I encounter daily. My creative practice draws inspiration from many places: chance encounters with sights and sounds of popular culture and social media, the pure aesthetic abstraction of music, the incidental beauty of post-consumer products like cardboard and packing foam, etc...all of these inform my work as an artist and musician. This broad approach makes my work simultaneously personal and reflective of the complex world that surrounds us.
Chris Janzen is a visual artist, guitarist, and composer. His multimedia projects and oil paintings have been exhibited throughout the US including west coast institutions such as the Contemporary Jewish Museum, Alphonse Berber Gallery, Electric Works, Fresno Art Museum, and Arte Americas. Janzen is Assistant Professor of Art and Instructor of Music at Fresno Pacific University where he teaches painting, drawing, 2D / 3D Design, and jazz guitar. He is a member of Fig Tree Gallery.
2007 MFA, Painting, University of South Dakota
2004 BA, Art, Bethel College, KS
2022 *Chance & Risk, Fig Tree Gallery, Fresno, June
2019 *Scale, Jewel FM Gallery, Fresno, CA August-November
2019 When Art Meets Jazz III, Fresno Art Museum, Fresno, CA
2018 Inovidable, Arte Americas, Fresno, CA
2018 *Recent Works, Fig Tree Gallery, Fresno, CA
2017 *Foodness, Fresno City Hall, Fresno, CA
2017 *Chris Janzen: Paintings, Jewel FM Gallery, Fresno, CA
2016 Reflector, Jewel FM Gallery, Fresno, CA 2016 Tandem, Fig Tree Gallery, Fresno, CA
2016 *Works by Chris Janzen, Tree of Life, Fresno CA
2016 Found Objects, Fig Tree Gallery, Fresno CA
2016 When Art Meets Jazz II, Arte Americas, Fresno, CA
2016 *Stories, Betty Rodgriguez Regional Library, Fresno, CA
2015 Local Artist Showcase, Peeve's Public House, Fresno, CA
2015 Creative Journeys: A Retrospective of FPU Art Faculty and Student work from 1964-2015 College Community MB Church Gallery, Clovis, CA
2015 Movement, Transformation, and Place, Mennonite/s Writing Conference, Fresno, CA
2015 Annual Members Show, Fig Tree Gallery, Fresno, CA
2008-2015 *Dinner (Or A Deranged Event Staged in a Theoretical Mansion in Which Time and History Have Been Grossly Dismembered and What We Know as the Laws of Physics Wildly Subverted, Conducted as an Inquiry into the Genius of Madness and the Art of the Faux Pas, and Having as a First Course to be Served to a Cast of Sixteen Eccentrics A Dish of Carrot Cabbage Salad Meant to Tickle Every Palate) (Art exhibition / poetry reading / music performance / mixed media work for voice, guitar, electronics)
2014 Recent Paintings by Chris Janzen, Fresno Pacific University McDonald Corridor Gallery, Fresno CA
2014 Annual Members Show, Fig Tree Gallery, Fresno, CA
2013 *Seven Stories, Chris Janzen Studio, Fresno, CA
2013 *More Again Now, Fig Tree Gallery, Fresno, CA
2013 Annual Members Show, Fig Tree Gallery, Fresno, CA 2012
Self, Fig Tree Gallery, Fresno, CA
2012 Fig Tree Gallery 50th Anniversary Exhibition, Fresno Art Museum, Fresno, CA
2012 *Intervention, North Fresno MB Church Gallery, Fresno, CA, April
2012 Artists of the Studio, Chris Sorensen Studio, Fresno, CA, March
2011 Annual Members Show, Fig Tree Gallery, Fresno, CA, December
2011 HOWL: Ginsberg and Beyond, Commercial Workers Union Hall, Fresno, CA
2011 *Chris Janzen : Recent Work, Fig Tree Gallery, Fresno, CA
2011 Resident Artists, Chris Sorensen Studio, Fresno, CA, August
2010 Annual Gallery Artists Show, Fig Tree Gallery, Fresno, CA, December
2010 *Heather Anderson, Marvin Armstrong, Chris Janzen, Fig Tree Gallery, Fresno, CA
2010 Resident Artists, Chris Sorensen Studio, Fresno, CA, September
2010 Black and White Show, Chris Sorensen Studio, Fresno, CA
2010 Art by Hand Showcase, Echo Street Coffee
2010 Artist Invitational, Fig Tree Gallery, Fresno, CA
2009 USD Alumni Exhibition, John A. Day Gallery, Vermillion, SD
2009 Art of Concience, Art by Hand, Fresno, CA
2009 *Healing the Whole, Mennonite Community Church, Fresno, CA
2009 *The Dinner Guests, North Fresno MB Church Gallery, Fresno, CA
2008 *Recent Work, Bethel College Gallery, North Newton, KS
2008 *In the World, Not of it: Recent Works by Chris Janzen, North Fresno Church Gallery, Fresno, CA
2008 *Marcos Dorado and Chris Janzen, Tower Mosaic, Fresno, CA
2007 *Paintings, McDonald Hall Gallery, Fresno, CA
2007 Conflict and Resolution, Gallery 110, Vermillion, SD
2007 *Popular Confusion, Nuance Gallery, Beresford, SD
2007 Briar Cliff Review Art Exhibit, Sioux City Art Center, Sioux City, IA
2007 The Color of Sound, Touch of Europe, Sioux Falls, SD
2007 *Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition, John A. Day Gallery, Vermillion, SD
2007 Stillwell Student Exhibition, Juried Exhibition, John A. Day Gallery, Vermillion, SD
2007 Recent Paintings, Coffee House Gallery, Vermillion, SD
2006 Juried Exhibition, Craftsman Creek Gallery, Sioux Falls, SD
2006 Draw!, Washington Arts Center, Vermillion, SD
2006 Be Heard, Riverwalk Caf�, Sioux Falls, SD
2006 Recent Graduate Student Work, South Dakota touring exhibit
2006 Stillwell Student Exhibition, Juried Exhibition, John A. Day Gallery, Vermillion, SD
2006 Chris Janzen and Matt Schaefer, Washington Arts Center, Vermillion, SD
2005 Paintings and Prints, Gallery 110, Warren M. Lee Center for Fine Arts, Vermillion
2005 Vermillion Artworks, South Dakota Board of Regents Gallery, Pierre, SD
2005 Dakota History Conference, Augustana College, Sioux Falls, SD
2005 Stillwell Student Exhibition, Juried Exhibition, John A. Day Gallery, Vermillion, SD
2004 Recent University of South Dakota Student Work, South Dakota State University Gallery, Sioux Falls, SD
2004 New Graduate Student Paintings, Gallery 110, Warren M. Lee Center for Fine Arts, Vermillion, SD
2004 *Paint and Sound, Bethel College Gallery, North Newton, KS
2007-present Assistant Professor of Art, Campus Galleries Director, Adjunct Faculty in Music, Fresno Pacific University Courses Taught:
2004-2007 Teaching Assistant, University of South Dakota Courses Taught: Design I 2D, Drawing I, Drawing II
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