Chris Sparks Art is a collection of limited edition, signed & numbered abstracts by recording artist and publisher/editor, Chris Sparks. Available in Giclee on Acrylic, Aluminum or Canvas from Micro Table Art to Massive Installations of Polyptychs.
Chris creates his pieces using hundreds or thousands of brush strokes in multiple layers to achieve his desired depth, color & motion.
His limited edition print series will be launched soon along with 3 other musical albums with the art serving as the cover art on limited artist editions of the albums.
Born and raised in Greensboro, NC, Chris earned his BSBA in Marketing & MBA in Finance from UNC-Greensboro where he was a cartoonist for the school newspaper. But, he has no formal art training. He started in art at the age of 4 drawing cartoons followed by caricatures & portraits.
ABSTRACT ART
You Have No Goals!
Chris started in abstract art around 2010 when he wanted something to get his mind off of business.
“I enjoy having this one thing in my life that isn’t planned. It’s total impulse. I just keep adding brush strokes until I see something I like. And then, I build on that theme. I never have a goal in mind when I start a piece of art which is the exact opposite of everything else in my life.”
Serendipitity
I discovered my technique by accident. I was playing around with different brush strokes & made a mistake. The way the colors blended, it reminded me of experimenting with inks when I was in my teens. I would blend different colors of ink on canvas & use those as album covers for mix tapes & my song demos. It’s always cool to revisit pieces you did as a kid. So, I spent several years experimenting and refining my techniques until I really liked what I was getting. I’ll even rework some of my earlier pieces by using them as a base layer.
Abstract Expressionism?
I have no formal art training unless you count a class in high school. So, when I started looking to post my pieces on art sites & submit them to galleries, I needed to see how the industry might classify them. My best guess so far is abstract expressionism. I’m sure somebody or everybody is going to tell me I’m wrong. But, the fact is I can’t imagine any true artist who would actually care. And anyone who is trying to classify abstract art is totally missing the point. To me, there are two classifications of art: 1) I like it. 2) I don’t like it. And, I prefer either of those answers more than apathy.
QUADRIPTYCHS
Ordered Chaos
After Chris finishes the original piece, he often turns it into a quadriptych...
“I love the idea of taking a piece that is total spontaneity & watching it turn into something that appears ordered & planned. It’s ordered chaos & a metaphor for how we live or at least picture life. Often things in our lives seem totally out of control; but, we keep working at it until we put all the pieces together and everything is OK again. That’s soothing to me. But, I suppose you could also say that putting everything in its proper place is the illusion we create to make ourselves feel better. No matter your perspective on life, I just hope you enjoy looking at each piece & finding something different each time.”
While turning the solo piece into a quadriptych is thrilling, artists should be really careful about accepting any result. Almost anything will be a cool result or a cooler one than the original. So, you have to be disciplined to keep refining the piece until it is everything it can be.
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