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Chad VanGaalen is an internationally respected musician and visual artist. He graduated from the Alberta College of Art & Design in 2000 and immediately started an active arts practice; his animation and drawings have been shown across Canada.
Self-recording, and playing almost every instrument – including many hand-crafted ones – VanGaalen has established himself as one of Canada’s most diverse and unpredictable artists. The 2004 release of Infiniheart attracted legendary label Sub Pop to release the record worldwide. The 2006 follow-up Skelliconnection then brought him critical acclaim and earned many award nods, including 2007 Juno and Polaris Prize nominations.
The 2005 release of a video for his own song “Clinically Dead” brought Chad to international attention as an animator as well, soliciting requests for illustration and animation work from widespread sources. Nickelodeon approached Chad and he produced a series of surreal vignettes for their children’s program Yo Gabba Gabba!. “Clinically Dead” went on to win best music video at the SXSWclick! Video awards, and was aired on MuchMusic and across the world on MTV. The 2006 video “Flower Gardens” became a phenomenon on YouTube; it and the follow-up, “Red Hot Drops”, were both nominated for MTV Subterranean “Best of 2006”.
Chad’s latest album, Soft Airplane, has already brought in early praise from around the globe, and the new animated video for “Molten Light” has again brought accolades to the reclusive artist.
