Chris Hawkes

Chris Hawkes is a painter, working in oils and mixed media. They use bright colour and multiple visual styles to play with ideas of consumerism, gender, taste and identity. Figurative elements are collaged with marks and colour planes in their distinctive palette to create a visual impact.
Since graduating in 2017, Hawkes has exhibited in the UK and completed a two-month residency in Chongqing, China which culminated in the MORE + MORE + MORE exhibition where they sold the majority of their recent works. In 2018 Hawkes will be exhibiting at Queer Frontiers in London and The Sum is Other in Brighton.

Romanticism; Consumption not Consumerism Sweetie

Romanticism; Consumption not Consumerism Sweetie is a mixed media painting, created in 2017 as part of a series of seven, made by the artist for their BA graduate show. The series explored themes of gender and identity through the repetition of imagery from the artist’s life. The piece shows the influence of Pop Art in its use of found and prosaic images such as an earring or the design from a packet of strawberry laces and Abstract Expressionism with its bright, gliding marks that flow around the image. Bright planes of colour and pattern form a vivid backdrop for oil painted and silkscreen printed images to move across, and gestural, abstract marks float between the figurative elements. The use of several visual styles renders the painting collage-like while the palette is distinctly playful and appealing, evocative of childhood toys, textiles and sweet flavours.

http://www.christopherhawkesart.co.uk

UKYA PROJECTS:

UKYA City Takeover: Nottingham 2019