Chris Finley -  Drool, Snatch, Clean and Jerk

Chris Finley Drool, Snatch #2, 2017, sign enamel on canvas over panel, 39 x 39 inches.

Photo: Ruben Diaz

Exhibition Dates: June 3 - July 22, 2017
Opening Reception: Saturday, June 3, 2017, 5 - 8 p.m.

Chimento Contemporary is pleased to announce our second solo exhibition with new portrait paintings by Chris Finley. This work will feature twisted iterations of Olympic weightlifters caught in the moment of extreme strain while performing the snatch and the clean and jerk. 

Snatch (weightlifting)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The snatch is the first of two lifts contested in the sport of weightlifting (also known as Olympic weightlifting) followed by the clean and jerk. The objective of the snatch is to lift the barbell from the ground to overhead in one continuous motion. There are four main styles of snatch used: squat snatch (or full snatch), split snatch, power snatch, and muscle snatch. The squat snatch and split snatch are the most common styles used in competition while power snatch and muscle snatch are mostly used for training purposes. In the squat snatch, the lifter lifts the bar as high as possible and pulls themselves under it in a squat position, receiving the bar overhead with the arms straight, decreasing the necessary height of the bar, therefore increasing the amount of weight that the lifter may successfully lift. In the split snatch, the lifter lifts the bar as high as possible and pulls themselves under the bar similar to the squat snatch but in the split snatch the lifter "splits" his legs, placing one foot in front of them and one behind, allowing themselves to receive the bar lower as in the squat snatch. The split snatch has become much less common with the increased popularity of the squat snatch but is occasionally performed by some lifters. In the power snatch, the lifter lifts the barbell as high as possible and receives the bar overhead with only a slight bend in the knee and hip, increasing the height that the bar must be lifted and decreasing the amount of weight that may be successfully lifted. In the muscle snatch, the lifter lifts the bar all the way overhead with arms locked out and the hip and knee fully extended.

Clean and jerk
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The clean and jerk is a composite of two weightlifting movements, most often performed with a barbell: the clean and the jerk. During the clean, the lifter moves the barbell from the floor to a racked position across the Deltoids, without resting fully on the Clavicles. During the jerk the lifter raises the barbell to a stationary position above the head, finishing with straight arms and legs, and the feet in the same plane as the torso and barbell.
Of the several variants of the lift, the most common is the Olympic clean and jerk, which, with the snatch, is contested in Olympic weightlifting events.

Chris Finley lives and works in Petaluma, California. His work has been included in national and international Museum exhibitions and is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Los Angeles County Museum in Los Angeles, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco, the Orange County Museum of Art in Newport Beach, the Columbus Museum of Art in Columbus,Ohio, and the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art in Madison, Wisconsin. Finley received the SECA award from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 1999, a Eureka Fellowship from the Fleishhacker Foundation in 2003 and the Pollock/ Krasner Foundation Grant in 2010.

For additional information please contact info@chimentocontemporary.com