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Christopher’s enigmatic paintings feature everyday scenes of both urban and country life but with a retrospective twist. He paints with a strong nostalgic feel for the past.</p>
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Bypassing the traditional route of art college, he left school at seventeen and started working in a commercial art studio. Whilst there he worked on many "Top Ten" album and single cover artworks for the following bands: The Police, Squeeze, Robert Fripp, Sham 69, The Jam, The Cure, and Roxy Music.</p>
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Having had a lifelong obsession with TV and Film he used to hang around the many major film studios as a teenager and experienced life on the sets of: The Sweeney, Space 1999, Blake’s Seven, and The New Avengers. He then went on to have a twenty year career in film and television as a special effects model maker, production designer, writer, producer, and director. He worked on a string of award-winning TV commercials including the famous: PG Tips chimpanzee adverts, and also on the highly successful children’s television series: Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends, where he built many of the characters, stations, and landscapes. He has also illustrated books and comics for many well known TV characters including Postman Pat.</p>
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Seeking more artistic freedom, he decided to leave the film industry and return to his love of painting. Although his style has been compared to the classic Ladybird book illustrations, his narratives are darker; featuring a host of characters based on people from his childhood spent on a south London council estate during the 1960s and 1970s. "The housewives on the estate would always come out to greet the Coal man, Milk man, and even the Rent man, although I guess a fare few hid from him as well! Maybe it had something to do with their fascination for men in uniform… probably left over from the war?"</p>
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As a result, Milkmen, Postmen, Firemen, Policemen, Lollipop Ladies and Caretakers are all subject to Christopher's vivid imagination. "The majority of my work is semi autobiographical and as such the paintings are anchored in that past narrative. For me the past is where the romance now lies, with the idea of things that have been lost. You only have to look at the mass appeal of retro TV shows like Downton Abbey and Life on Mars to appreciate that people are mesmerised by the bygone".</p>
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As part of the picture making process he constructs cardboard reference models and populates them with die-cast toy cars and people to establish the scenes he has in mind. He then lights and photographs them to determine the perspective and shadow directions. This process also seems to imbue his pictures with a cinematic feel. </p>
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Christopher has exhibited frequently in the west end of London, won the prestigious Art in Architecture award, and has been selected and shown at the Royal Academy Summer Show two years running.</p>
