Chris Dyer (artist)

Chris Dyer (born 3 March 1979, Ottawa, Canada) is an artist based in Montreal, who exhibits and performs his art worldwide is receiving much critical recognition. His unique works vary in mediums and range from visionary art, to street art, including skateboard art. He's one of the few artists passionately and successfully bridging and uniting these different styles. Chris' artwork has many subject matters and flavours, that's for sure. The main theme seen through his artwork is cultural and spiritual oneness of humanity and beyond.

Chris Dyer (Artist)

Life

Born in Ottawa, Canada, Chris moved to Lima, Peru at age 4. Chris started skateboarding at 8 years old, surfing at 12, and later fan-based gangbanging at a local soccer stadium. The name of the gang was ‘Sepulcro’ who were fans of the Universitario de Deportes. Chris’ parents sent him to Canada to study, in 1996, at age 17. He lived in Ottawa with his grandmother, where he attended Heritage College and University of Ottawa and during those years he was a heavy drinker and was very self-destructive. In the summer of 2001 he went tree planting, which directed Chris towards a pursuit of a much more spiritual path. He moved to Montreal in 2000 to study Illustration at Dawson College. Later in life Chris studied under (and later taught alongside) visionary masters, including Alex Grey, Robert Venosa, Martina Hoffman, Laurence Caruana, A. Andrew Gonzales, Maura Holden, and Amanda Sage. Traveling is a big part of Chris' explorative lifestyle, so to this day he has experienced over 30 countries. One of the countries where he had a solo exhibition was Belgium, where he met his wife Valerie Lambert, who he married in 2010. He continues to live off his craft and travel the world exhibiting art, painting huge colorful murals and teaching workshops at different visionary art gatherings around the globe.

Art career

Chris started his freelance art career locally, by doing art exhibitions in Montreal. Shortly after, his work started getting featured in magazines, and this exposure got him further commercial commissions and exhibitions. Chris found himself doing solo and group exhibitions in countries like Peru, Mexico, Belgium and all across the United States and Canada. To this point, he has exhibited at galleries around the world, including Paris, Berlin, Tokyo, New York, Denver and Los Angeles. He has shown with renowned artists such as Alex Grey, Shepard Fairey, Robert Venosa, H.R. Giger, and Romio Shrestha. He has also worked with skateboard art legends like Jim Phillips, Wes Humpston, and Andy Howell. Other than exhibiting he also travels to live paint at event and festivals like Burning Man (Nevada), Shambhala (British Columbia), and Eclipse (Australia). He has also started doing painting workshops at local high schools and renowned places such as the The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the The National Art Gallery of Canada and The Chapel of Sacred Mirrors. Chris launched his own brand, Positive Creations, in 2003. Through the years it has included a wide variety of products such as hemp clothing, tapestries, books, sunglasses, watches, DVDs, etc. In 2008, he filmed and co-directed a full feature documentary of his life with Dreamtime Cinema."Positive Creations" was released as DVD in 2010 and by now it is a widely seen movie on YouTube. In 2011, Schiffer Publications released a 256-page, hardcover book, of his art. A coloring book for adults by him is scheduled to be published by Last Gasp. in 2016.

Skate art

Chris started skateboarding on Christmas of 1986 and still does today. It was in the year 2000 when he started doing his paintings on broken skateboards he had ridden and collected over the years. His recycled skate paintings made him stand out in the Montreal art scene and introduced his work to skateboarders around the world, mostly via skate magazines articles about it. In 2004, landed his dream job, doing skate graphics for Creation Skateboards, from San Francisco who had him over in California for many years. By 2011 Chris was promoted to the position of Art Director and Brand Manager for Creation Skateboards, where he did 6 different catalog and directed the skate video "Soul Harmonics". Chris continues to freelance for a number of different skate brands and by now has done over 100 commercial skateboard graphics. On the fine art side of things, he does way less individual board paintings, but has more recently moved into whole installations (like his "Skatebot Army") made from reclaimed old skateboards.

Street art

Chris' first interaction with aerosols was in 1993, when he would tag many walls of Lima, Peru, where he would publicize the name of the street gang he belonged to (Sepulcro Crema). Chris younger brother Patrick (aka Peru 143) later started doing graffiti, so Chris stayed away from that medium for many years, as to avoid brotherly competition. It was later in 2007, when the brothers became roommates in Montreal, that they started to jam in their backyard and Chris got addicted to that medium. These days, spray paint is one of Chris' main mediums, especially in the outdoor seasons and while on the road. His intentions are to beautify the world and leave his trace as he explores the globe. Though Chris' favorite jams are organically organized block parties, he has also been invited to paint murals for well respected festivals like MURAL Festival and Art Basel Miami.

Publications

References

    • Devaney, Jacob, "Taking it To the Streets". Huffington Post. 2013. Retrieved October 30, 2013.
    • Brooke, Michael, "Positive Creations". Concrete Wave Magazine. 2012. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
    • Dyer, Chris, "Positive Creations". Dreamtime Cinema. Documentary. 2011. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
    • Fuenzalida, Danny, "Canvas". Thrasher Magazine. 2007. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
    • Greenway, Kathryn, "Moving Beyond Skateboard Art". The Montreal Gazette Newspaper. 2009. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
    • Greenway. Kathryn, "His Art Goes Across The Board". The Montreal Gazette Newspaper. 2004. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
    • McDonough, Elise, "Positive Vibrations". High Times Magazine. 2013. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
    • Roberdo, "The Cover Artist". Mushroom Magazine. 2011. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
    • Vriend, Rosanne, "Soul Skater". Salt Magazine. 2011. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
    • Gray, Karyn, "The Art of Skate" "Ion Magazine" 2014
    • Grey, Alex, "Psychic Connection". Juxtapoz Magazine 2015

    External links

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