Artist, Warren Chang

Depicting scenes in and around Monterey County, Warren Chang favors a limited color palette in his paintings of agricultural workers, exuding the artist’s active practice in strengthening the attitude and emotion of his compositions. Here, the warmth of the earth tones of the landscape under the peeking lights of a cooler twilight serves to elevate an often-disregarded class of laborers on which the industry heavily relies. 

Chang echoes the sensibilities of the Barbizon School from 19th century France in which artists such as Jean-François Millet (1814–1875) became well-known for rendering scenes of simple field workers amid their toil. Thus, for Chang, painting these laborers absent of facial expressions should be considered more within their art historical context, rather than within a charged political framework: it is about celebrating the resilience of the human body and spirit of today. Seeing this hunched over group carry on with their work as darkness looms near confronts the viewer with the daily routine of thousands of people throughout California and the rest of the country. Chang permits us to draw parallels between the past and present while showcasing an undeniable narrative that has long been overlooked.

Born in Monterey, CA in 1957, Warren Chang graduated from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena in 1981, receiving a B.F.A. in Illustration with honors. Before becoming a fine artist in 2000, Chang worked for over twenty years as an award-winning illustrator on both the West and East coasts. His accolades include Best of Show awards in the Salon International in 2003 and the Raymar Contest in 2009.  Chang currently teaches at San Francisco’s Academy of Art University.