Biography

Chris Wikman was born in Regina, Saskatchewan, in 1973. While growing up and watching his father make pottery, Chris developed an interest in the process of art making. In 1995, He established a studio in his Regina home.  In 2005, he moved his studio practice to Indian Head, where he now lives with his five adopted children, and he transitioned to a full time painter.

He works mostly from memory, creating specific images that emerge from his reflection on experiences grounded in various places he has been with his family and friends.  He primarily focuses his attention on parts of the landscape that go unnoticed because of our prevailing assumptions about the important features of nature.  His intension is to render beauty through depictions of the transitional spaces between recognized natural landmarks.  Through this practice, he transforms our perceptions of farmer’s fields, sloughs, flooded ditches or bluffs of wild trees along the highway – places that we would otherwise disregard.

Chris is a self-taught painter who works in both acrylic and oils. He has had several solo shows throughout Canada and has won many regional adjudications initiated by agencies like the Organization of Saskatchewan Arts Councils (OSAC). His work is found in both private and corporate collections throughout Canada and he is represented by various galleries.

Artist Statement:

My work uses an aesthetic hybrid of Abstract Expressionism, Fauvism, and Impressionism to make commentary on the transient and impermanent nature of the emotional qualities wrapped up in human memory.  Typically, I use the subject of nature, and my social and personal engagements within it, as the means to explore this concept.

In regard to my depiction of nature, I work primarily from memory, creating specific images that emerge from my reflections on experiences grounded in various places I have been with his family and friends.   My landscapes remain abstraction in the sense that the images are not meant to be a concrete depiction of my physical actuality in time and space.  In my practice, I am only attempting to paint a believable landscape that is only meant to be a rendition of what is contained within my memory and the emotions that memory evokes.

Community Work:

I was a foster parent for nearly ten years until I adopted my 5 foster children all with various degrees of special needs.

In the past, I have work within my town through my studio teaching classes to groups, and individuals, while holding art retreats 4 times a years for a number of years. I have also worked with the high school and the town with art projects when asked or posted in need of help such as donating and fund raising. Every year, I donate work to the Moose Jaw Museum and Gallery to help raise money to supplement art classes for children through the gallery. Also 50% of the money raised from that also goes to a programs to help feed children within the City of Moose Jaw that are at risk.