John Hee Taek Chae is an artist and educator whose work is interested in the hybridization and mutation of visual culture primarily through the practice of painting. John received his BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2010 and his MFA in Painting and Printmaking from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2020.

His previous solo exhibitions include A Dark and Bloody Ground at Institute 193 (Lexington, KY), Shed Your Eyes at MARCH (New York, NY), Western Paintings at D. D. D. D. (New York, NY), and Make. Believe. at MOCA Jacksonville (Jacksonville, FL), among others, and he was awarded the MacDowell Fellowship in 2021 and was a Yaddo Fellow in 2022. He was the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Scholar in Residence at the University of Houston in 2023 and is currently Assistant Professor in Painting and Drawing at the School of Art and Design at Alfred University.

Maryland Institute College of Art

Bachelor of Fine Arts / Painting Major and Art History Minor

Fall 2010

Virginia Commonwealth University

Master of Fine Arts / Painting and Printmaking

Spring 2020

Exhibitions

2023 A Dark and Bloody Ground, Lexington, KY (solo)

2023 All At Once, Visual Arts Center of Richmond, Richmond, VA (group)

2023 Energetic Maps, TAP Gallery, Montreal, Canada (two-person)

2023 Shed Your Eyes, MARCH Gallery, New York, NY (solo)

2022 Western Paintings, D.D.D.D., New York, NY (solo)

2022 Conscious, Subconscious, (Collective) Unconscious, The Anderson Gallery, Richmond, VA (Group)

2022 Thank Goodness it’s Face to Face, Gordon Galleries , Norfolk, VA (Group)

2021 Cardinal Club, The Anderson Gallery, Richmond, VA (Group)

2021 The Language of the Birds, Tuesday Gallery, Richmond, VA (Group)

2021 good faith, The Anderson Gallery, Richmond, VA (Solo)

2020 Now more than ever, Summer Exhibition, Wassaic Project, Wassaic, NY 2020 (Group)

2019 Fata Morgana, Candidacy Exhibition Richmond, VA (Group)

2018 Parallel Play, FAB Gallery, Richmond, VA (Group)

2014 Make. Believe., MOCA Jacksonville, Jacksonville, FL (Solo)

2013 Fermentation, CoRK Arts District, Jacksonville, FL (Solo)

Awards

MacDowell Fellow (2021)
Pamela Joy Johnson Bequest Fellowship (2021)
Graduate Teaching Fellow (VCU) - Full funding 2018-2020
Esther Elizabeth Motz Memorial Scholarship
Clarence B. and Nell G. Williams Scholarship
VCU Graduate Research Grant
VCU Graduate Travel Grant
VCU Anderson Publishing Grant
Wurtzel Residency
Barbara Ritzman Devereux Visiting Artist Grant