Cynthia Chapman (born 1977) – Toronto, Canada – Canadian abstract painter. Chapman works in series, fully engaging the viewer in the experience and emotional journey. According to art historian, author, and curator Joan Murray, Chapman “offers certainties about color, emphasizing intuition over concept to snap into sharp focus her importance as an innovative colorist making some of the most riveting paintings of her career.”
In 2003, she joined the prestigious Moore Gallery, owned and operated by Ron Moore for over 30 years in Toronto, Ontario, exhibiting painters from historical art movements. Moore introduced a group of talented emerging artists with whom Chapman was associated. She was influenced by Jean-Paul Riopelle, a Canadian painter and sculptor from Quebec who had one of the longest and most important international careers of the sixteen signatories of the Refus Global.
Recognized for her talent early in her career, she received the Solomon Painting Award in 2000 and the Mrs. W.O. Forsyth Award in 2003, her graduation year. In 2011, Chapman went on to work for her mentor and former instructor, senior abstract painter Ron Martin. She assisted him in producing three exhibitions held at the Christopher Cutts Gallery between 2012 and 2014. She continued to work for him until 2017. In 2017, Chapman joined the Hatch Gallery in Bloomfield PEC, Ontario, and completed five solo exhibitions: Don’t Tread On Me in 2017, That Way, My Way in 2018, When Push Comes to Shove in 2019, Impact in 2021, and Restless Attraction in 2022.
“Let It Bleed leaps off the wall, with the blocks of blues and yellows seeming to float on the scabby surface of a ‘bloody’ plane, with marks and strokes that suggest we’re looking down upon a river, or flowing current, of ‘blood.’ It’s both rich and a bit revulsive (in an enticing way, for me, at least),” Bart Gazzola explains in his 2020 article Painting Physically: Evolving Legacies.
Between 2019-2025, Chapman was represented by the John Mann Gallery in St. Catherine’s, Ontario, and completed five solo annual exhibitions. See Curriculum Vitae for more information.