Chris Charteris has worked as a full time artist (sculptor, carver, jewellery maker) since the mid 1980s and lives in the paradisiacal setting of Kuaotunu on the Coromandel Peninsula, New Zealand.
Chris’s working process is informed by his early training in Maori carving… Being of Kiribati and Fijian heritage, Polynesian forms: traditional tools, ceremonial objects, patterns, and body adornment are a natural source of contemplation and design and reflect his interest in mans historical interactions and ongoing relationship with nature. These influences have gradually synthesized into a more personal, refined aesthetic. “I attempt to express my diverse cultural inheritance in a way that reflects the universality of forms. I regard my work as sacred work and I attempt to create things that have richness, spirit, meaning and purpose.”
Chris uses natural materials including Stone (basalt, argillite, pounamu- New Zealand Greenstone), whalebone and shell testing their structures, looking at the extent he controls or submits to the material. Enjoying a growing ability to be less conscious of his working process, Chris has adopted a more freely experimental and intuitive response to materials and ideas.
Chris has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions including “Pasifika Styles” (2006-2008) at University of Cambridge Museum, UK “Unlocked” (2009) Hong Kong. With a growing international profile, Chris’s work can be found in public and private collections within New Zealand and abroad.
Website
http://www.tautai.org/chris-char
