Chris Dyer (artist)

Chris Dyer (born 3 March 1979, Ottawa, Canada) is an artist based in Montreal, who is receiving significant gallery showings and critical recognition. His art ranges from visionary art, to street art, and skateboard art, where he is amongst the few artists trying to bridge and unite those three different movements.

Chris Dyer (Artist)

Life

Born in Ottawa, Canada, Chris moved to Lima, Peru at age 4. Chris started skateboarding at 8 years old, surfing at 12, and later fan-based gangbanging at a local soccer stadium. The name of the gang was ‘Sepulcro’ who were fans of the Universitario de Deportes. Chris’ parents sent him to Canada to study, in 1996, at age 17. He lived in Ottawa with his grandmother, where he attended Heritage College and University of Ottawa. During those years he was a heavy drinker and was very self-destructive. He moved to Montreal in 2000 to study Illustration at Dawson College. In the summer of 2001 he went tree planting which is when he stopped drinking and started the pursuit of a much more spiritual path.He has also studied under (and later taught alongside) visionary masters including Alex Grey, Robert Venosa, Martina Hoffman, Laurence Caruana, A. Andrew Gonzales, Maura Holden, and Amanda Sage. His travels brought him to many countries including Belgium, where he met his wife Valerie Lambert, who he married in 2010. He continues to live off his craft and travel the world exhibiting art, painting murals and teaching workshops.

Artwork

Chris started his art career locally, by doing art exhibitions in Montreal. Shortly after, his work started getting featured in magazines which was the first way he got his art out to the world. In 2004, Chris became an artist for Creation Skateboards. This connection with Creation Skateboards allowed Chris to be able to go to San Francisco every summer since, where he found himself doing gallery shows. Around the same time, Chris started getting invited to do solo shows internationally. He found himself in countries such Peru, Mexico, and Belgium (where he met his wife). In Chris’ travels, he has spent a lot of time exhibiting, live painting, and teaching workshops at galleries such as The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Art Basel Miami, and The National Art Gallery of Canada. He has also exhibited work at festivals such as Burning Man (Nevada), Shambhala (British Columbia), and Eclipse (Australia). At this point, he has exhibited at galleries around the world, including Paris, Berlin, Tokyo, New York, and Los Angeles. He has shown with renowned artists such as Alex Grey, Shepard Fairey, Robert Venosa, H.R. Giger, and Romio Shrestha. He has also worked with skateboard art legends like Jim Phillips, Wes Humpston, and Andy Howell. Chris launched his own brand, Positive Creations, in 2004. Through the years it has included products such as hemp clothing, tapestries, books, and DVDs. In 2009, He filmed and co-directed a full feature documentary of his life with Dreamtime Cinema, now on YouTube. In 2011, Schiffer Publications released a 256-page, hard-cover book, of his art. At this point, Chris has done over 100 skateboard graphics for a number of brands all over the world. He is currently the brand manager for Creation Skateboards based in San Francisco, California and continues to freelance for many other popular brands.

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    Publications

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