Christopher R. Inwood (31) is a realistic self-taught artist based in Ipswich who extracts and records concepts and imagery from his personal experiences, the scientific frontier, the metaphysical, art history, and the digital world.
Inwood has exhibited across Australia at galleries, art spaces, and festivals including UQ Art Museum, Queensland State Library, Brisbane Power House, Caloundra Regional Gallery, Brisbane Square Library, Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery, Brisbane Street Art Festival and has been a finalist in the Brisbane Portrait Prize x 2, the Sunshine Coast Art Prize, the Percival Portrait Painting Prize, the Toowoomba Biennial Emerging Artists Award, Melt Portrait Prize x 3, BAM Art Prize, Morris Art Prize and feature artist at the Brisbane Grammar Art Show. Inwood refined his understanding of art and its histories at The University of Queensland studying Art History (2016-18).
Sixth solo Exhibition - Chronocentric Sonder
In this collection of deeply ancient imagery, Inwood’s signature realism is pushed to new heights as he struggles with our species' past and the lessons our ancestors have been screaming to us, in hope that we, their descendants take heed of their own hard learnt lessons.
Here, the language of our ancestors, myth, and metaphor, is pulled back into the present for us as we examine the fundamentals in contemporary society. Inwood invites the audiences to remember our past so we can once again understand our ancestors' lessons.
Fifth solo Exhibition - Black Colour White
Inwood’s multi-faceted exhibition blends exquisite portraiture with experiential lighting which throws the audience into a sensory deprivation tank that will shock and delight.
Featuring the artist’s signature contemporary realism, this highly engaging exhibition is a breathtaking combination of portrait and playful illusion, that shift and change before your very eyes. Step inside the artists mind and experience the thrill of disbelief as things that you thought were black and white, bloom in riotous colour before your very eyes.
Black Colour White comes to The Ferryman’s hut Friday 23 October-Sunday 01 November 2020.
Fourth Solo Exhibition - SUPERNORMAL STIMULI
Inwood’s fourth solo exhibition SUPERNORMAL STIMULI thoughtfully describes the role that enhanced stimulus has played on our collective development as a species, and presents how this has been expressed through culture. Inwood is captivated by the physical and visual stimulants - that when accentuated and amplified - trigger our primitive biological responses in a heightened manner. When Supernormal Stimuli appear in combination, they can elevate our primitive response into heightened ecstatic states, and Inwood has boldly pioneered this experience for the viewer in his exhibition SUPERNORMAL STIMULI at The Third Quarter Gallery.
Third Solo Exhibition - Be Public In The Now
His third solo exhibition Be Public In The Now, displayed at the Brisbane Square Library. Each of the 17 paintings are painted MEMEs depicting a concept taken from Inwood’s interests in science, art history, philosophy, the digital world, and his personal observations. He has used digital aesthetics and the simple composition of the MEME to communicate these complex ideas through visual language. This style of painting allows direct communication, in contrast to the art of today that is often steeped in convolution and ambiguity, which fails to communicate an intended message with the audience.
Second Solo Exhibition - VOYEUR
Through his 2016 VOYEUR* collection, Inwood examined personal relationships in an attempt to expose the fundamental reality of human experience, revealing the idealisation of third party voyeurism that is characteristic of contemporary western society. VOYEUR provided a unique experience into the portraiture of digital realism. The exhibition was embodied through a collection that comprises visual and auditory digital mediums as well as Inwood’s distinguished oil paintings. Voyeur invites you to experience the personal reality of the artist’s interaction with the interior, exterior and digital worlds.
First Solo Exhibition - LIFE.IS.2013
In 2013 he had his first solo exhibition titled LIFE.IS.2013. Rather than a psychological study of the subjects, Inwood’s work was a study of portraiture – specifically, the subjective relationship between the sitter and the artist. Portraiture is the image of the relationship between the subject's performance to the artist, the artist’s impression of the figure and the viewer's perception of this relationship. The LIFE.IS.2013 collection opened out a voyeuristic relationship in portraiture, which is interpreted by the viewer, perceived by the artist and existing in the sitter.
Inwood also currently writes for Beautiful Bizarre Magazine check out some of his writing here.
*VOYEUR: “a person who likes seeing and talking or writing about something that is considered to be private”
AWARDS
2021 - Finalist - Bluethumb Art prize 2021
2021 - Highly Commended - Melt Portrait Prize (painting)
2021 - Highly Commended - The Art Edit Self-represented Artist Award
2020 - Finalist - Brisbane Portrait Prize
2020 - Finalist - Sunshine Coast Art Prize
2020 - Finalist - Lethbridge 20000 Small Scale Art Award
2020 - Finalist - Percival Portrait Painting Prize
2019 - Finalist - Brisbane Portrait Prize
2019 - Finalist - Melt Portrait Prize
2018 - Finalist - BAM Art Prize 2018
2018 - Finalist - Toowoomba Biennial Emerging Artists Award Exhibition
2018 - Finalist - Melt Portrait Prize
2018 - Finalist - The Morris Art Prize
2016 - 2nd & 3rd place in the 2D category
Nudgee College Art Festival - Margaret Campbell-Ryder
2016 - Curtators Choice
Downlands College Art Exhibition - Evan Hollis
PREVIOUS EXHIBITIONS
SOLO
2021 - Solo Exhibition - Chronocentric Sonder - The Ferryman's Hut
2020 - Solo Exhibition - BLACK COLOUR WHITE - The Ferryman's Hut
2019 - Solo Exhibition - SUPERNORMAL STIMULI - The Third Quarter
2017 - Solo Exhibition - Be Public In The Now - The Brisbane Square Library
2016 - Solo Exhibition - VOYEUR - Jugglers Art Space Inc
2013 - Solo Exhibition - LIFE.IS.2013 - Bird Gallery and Studio
GROUP
2021 - Group Show - INCOGNITO
2021 - Group Show - Brisbane Street Art Festival - Within These Walls - Superordinary
2021 - Group Show - Brisbane Street Art Festival - FELONS X BSAF PARTY - Felons Barrel Hall
2021 - Group Show - FACET - Cool Art Gallery
2019 - Group Show - Brisbane Portrait Prize - Brisbane Power House
2019 - Group Show - Downlands Art Show
2019 - Group Show - Melt Portrait Prize - Brisbane Power House
2019 - Group Show - Brisbane Street Art Festival - Within These Walls -
West Village
2018 - Group Show - BAM Art Prize - Thomgallery
2018 - Group Show - Toowoomba Biennial Emerging Artists Award Exhibition - Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery
2018 - Group Show - Downlands College Art Exhibition
2018 - Feature Artist - Brisbane Grammar School Art Show
2018 - Group Show - Melt Portrait Prize - Brisbane Power House
2018 - Group Show - Brisbane Street Art Festival - Within These Walls - Brisbane Power House
2018 - Group Show - The Morris Art Prize
2017 - Group Show - Downlands College Art Exhibition
2017 - Group Show - Evolve - Brisbane Grammar School Art Show
2017 - Permanent collection - Little Tokyo Two
2016 - Group Show - RAW showcase Verve - The Met
2016 - Group Show - Downlands College Art Exhibition
2016 - Group Show - Nudgee College Art Festival
2016 - Group Show - Brisbane Grammar School Art Show
2016 - Group show - Peace and Quite Exhibition - Queensland State Library
2016 - Permanent Collection - Little Tokyo Two
2015 - Group show - Brisbane Grammar School Art Show
2015 - Permanent Collection - Little Tokyo Two
2014 - Group show - Society of Fine Arts UQ silent auction
University of Queensland Art Museum
2014 - Group show - Oh, You Pretty Things - Bird Gallery and Studio
2014 - Group show - Brisbane Grammar Art Show
2014 - Group show - RAW Showcase Awakening - The Arena
2013 - Group show - Society of Fine Arts UQ silent auction
2011 - Group show - Hearts of Gold [8] - Bleeding Hearts Cafe and Gallery
INTERVIEWS / PRESS
- Urban List - The 7 Best Art Exhibitions In Brisbane In July
- Pecha Kucha Brisbane - 2019
- Beautiful Bizarre Magazine - Interview 2019
- Art/Edit Magazine - Spring 2017 Issue 15, page 9
- Downlands College Art Exhibition - The Toowoomba Chronicle - 2017
- Christopher Inwood is Inward – Painting to Think, by Peter Breen
- Panoptic Press, Chris Inwood: LIFE.IS.2013, by Jonathon McWilliam
- 2018 Toowoomba Biennial Emerging Artist Award & Exhibition - WIN news Toowoomba
- RAW Brisbane, Awakening Show
- Be Public in the Now Catalogue
- Moustache Magazine, 5 Minutes With Christopher Inwood
EDUCATION
2016 - 2018 - Art History BA Arts, University of Queensland
2007 - Brisbane Grammar School