The IEA was delighted to host Chad Latz as our artist in residence over the week of April 3rd, 2017. Chad, who received his art degree from the NYSCC at Alfred University, is the chief innovation officer a the Cohn & Wolfe design film. Chad has spent more than 17 years in the agency world developing award-winning, integrated marketing and communications strategies for some of the most respected, admired and engaged brands. He was recognized in 2010 as one of PRWeek’s 40 under 40 and his insightful perspectives on digital and social media are frequently highlighted in industry publications and at international events and conferences. Outside of Cohn & Wolfe, Chad spends much of his time in his cabin in the Catskills working on personal art projects ranging from print media to printmaking.

During his time at the IEA, Chad worked across our print media facilities combining multiple processes into each of his images. The inspiration for his prints came from photos and documents that belonged to his grandfather, a principal art director, and one of the founders of Esquire magazine, whom Chad never met. Additionally, to further pursue his family history, Chad participated in a 23andMe analysis and took a course in bio-engineering to sequence his genealogy back 500 generations. The data, charts, and graphs from these tests were combined with the photos of his grandfather, overlaying screen-printing on photo-polymer prints and burning text into digital prints, to create prints as layered as his genealogy.

Below are images from Chad’s residency: