To look upon Chiaka's artwork is to be jettisoned to a place and time as ethereal as it is familiar and tangible, as ancient as it is futurist and visionary. Watching him work is a gift he occasionally affords an appreciative public, which routinely slows and stops to bear witness. I met this profoundly talented artist at what I call his "Occidental Studio," as it was there on Occidental Street [in Seattle's Pioneer Square] that we became acquainted. I was struck by the artist's deft hand movements, which, while rendering quite precise applications of paint, were astonishingly lithe, as they seemed to float above the evolving canvas.
Images appear with the artist's permission.
From the realm where he is some benevolent, gracefully magnanimous king, Chiaka asks little of those he serves, other than for us to imagine and believe.