Chris Hopewell

Born in the Western Australian Wheatbelt town of Northam, Chris Hopewell studied a BA fine art at WAIT (now Curtin University of Technology). He spent formative years as an artist in New York, immersing himself in the greater artistic community and working in art direction and production design for music videos, advertising and independent film. After almost two decades in New York, Chris returned to Australia in 2006.

Chris Hopewell’s works are process orientated: gestured marks, tones and textures are applied over the top of a succession of previous layers. His interest lies in spatially weaving various, distinct dimensions in order to create new and random environments. Upon observation of one of his artworks, threads in free association are triggered and unfold for the viewer.

Chris strives to realise a continuous aesthetic of randomness in his paintings, one that reflects the intuitive evolution of his artworks – a phenomenon ever present in the world around us. Just as his marks offer traces of movement and energy through time, so too does his aim to evoke a blueprint for how layered thoughts and memory, or dreams, might be recorded and how our consciousness creates part of the universe that surrounds us.

Chris Hopewell's work can be found in a number of public collections, including the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Bankwest, Curtin University Collection, Edith Cowan University, Kerry Stokes Collection and Wesfarmers.