SALMON
CHEVY
NEO-TATTOO ARTIST
Artist Statement
I don’t really like to talk about my art, but Kevin said I had to write something about it.
My art has been described as tattoo art, but I don’t really see it. I like to do paintings based on my sketchbook drawings. When I had my accident a few years ago I spent a lot of time in hospital and that gave me a lot of time to draw. I know my work has a cartoon look to it and I guess that’s where the tattoo reference comes from, but I don’t have any tattoos myself.
I just like to paint what I paint. I don’t really examine it. I just do it. If other people like my paintings, that’s fine. If they don’t, that’s fine, too. I really just paint for myself and nobody else.
Salmon Chevy Bio
Not much is known about the artist Salmon Chevy. It’s hard to determine his age or even his nationality as he has been forced to wear a mask for much of his adult life. Since he doesn’t like to talk about it all that we have been able to surmise from people that have known him is that he suffered some form of accident in his youth and that that is why he wears the mask, a wig and the arm coverings. Apparently the accident was so extreme that Salmon also lost the ability to speak. It is not known if this is a direct physical result of the accident or if perhaps it’s psychosomatic. Nevertheless, Mr. Chevy communicates by use of a dry erase board and markers.
Salmon’s work has a very graphic feel to it and at times seems akin to tattoo designs. He mostly works in acrylic and his bright colors and wild subject matter are easily identifiable. Flying cats, orange buffalo, floating skulls and crazy clowns are just a few of the subjects that Salmon likes to paint. Generally his paintings are of a large scale, usually four foot canvases, but his work starts out very small as he reproduces black and white ink drawings from his sketchbooks into the brightly colored paintings.
Salmon Chevy is represented by Stark Art Gallery in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma, where he sometimes shares a studio space with his friend, Kevin Stark.