statement

My drawings are influenced by the imagery and methodology of the Surrealists and the marks and forms of Mannerism and the Baroque, as well as twentieth century illustration and comic art. My work is further informed by natural forms, the life sciences, science fiction, garbage, and gastronomy.

Most of my recent drawings are representations of imaginary biomorphic objects suspended in a floating environment, as though hovering outside of time or caught in a snapshot of a state of movement.

A smaller set of drawings, typified by Guardian elk boatbaby, depicts more traditionally representational human, animal, and plant figures in oneiric scenes drawn from imagination and memory.

In my drawings, I employ a process in which random visual noise and broad gestural marks seed the picture plane, evolve, coagulate, and tighten into the biomorphic forms of the finished drawing.

Trained in printmaking, I currently make few multiples. What I bring from this background is an interest in graphic markmaking; layering, masking, and stencil techniques. The rhythmic and vectorial marks of engraving are of central importance to my drawing. Another influence of printmaking on my drawing work involves reaction to chance elements that may be generated by process. I am interested in the ontogeny of a drawing as a dialogue and a fight between the artist and the drawing.

bio

born:1980, La Grange, Illinois

education:

Louisiana State University, MFA, 2005
Bradley University, BFA, 2002

selected solo or two-person exhibits

Peoria Art Guild: Local Color: Chris Hutson, Peoria, IL, 2009
Contemporary Art Center of Peoria: Chris Holbrook, Chris Hutson, and Suzanne Nestory, Peoria, IL, 2008
Hub-Bub: Jason Baldwin, Jean Gray Drake and Chris Hutson, Spartanburg, SC, 2007

selected group shows

FUEL Collection: Grand Small Works Exhibition, Philadelphia, PA, 2008
33Collective Gallery: Satellite City Transmissions, Chicago, IL, 2007
Hudson Gallery, Celebrating Contemporary Printmaking, Sylvania, OH, 2006