CHRIS BRUCE

THE ARTIST

CHRIS BRUCE

Chris Bruce studied at Cambridge University and subsequently lived and worked in Italy, before entering on a career in industry. In the early nineties he pursued foundation studies in Fine Art at Cheltenham Art College, going on to study there for a BA in Painting. Whilst at Cheltenham he began painting horse racing using video source material, which he captured at the race course adjacent to the Art College. This strand of work became the focus for his interest in questions of presence/transience. He emerged as one of the leading contemporary voices in the genre, and was represented by galleries in London, the Cotswolds and the north of England.

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In the period 2000 to 2010 his work was regularly shown in group and solo exhibitions (Impressions of the Turf, Osbourne Gallery, Ascot Racing Club, Osbourne Gallery, Racing Colours, Astley House), and has been acquired by collectors in the racing world, notable among these, the late Sir Peter O'Sullevan. In 2007 he relocated from Cheltenham to Falmouth. There he completed an MA in
Contemporary Fine Art.

In recent years, his work has been concerned with ‘story’: the ways stories form in contemporary culture, and the resonances that surface between traditional story-telling
and the populist tropes of present day politics. He draws on multiple sources ranging from film to folklore, frequently deploying pareidolia to discover his narratives (*pareidolia — the cognitive propensity to discern form in chaotic experience), effectively fostering random and accidental ‘events’ in the paint surface. Chris says, ‘the stories that occur in my paintings are my attempt to give metaphorical form to this seemingly unsettled, unraveling moment in our collective present’.