EXHIBITIONS
2009 – Selected for: “Nude Nite 2009” show in Tampa, FL. Curator: Kelly Stevens .
2009 – Selected for: “UNCLAD 2009” at the Gallery by the Bay, Stanwood WA. Curator: Gayle Picken
2008 - Selected for juried competition: “Opposites Attract” at the Arts Alliance Center at Clear Lake, San Jacinto College, TX Curator: Debra Kendrick
2008 – Selected for: “Passages of Death” at the Visions Art Gallery, Medway MA. Curator: Angela Cannistraro
2008 – Selected for: “Too Real is Too Real”, surrealist exhibition at The Riverfront Renaissance Center for the Arts in Millville, NJ.
2008 – Solo show in Jennifer Bates Memorial Gallery (Germ Books and Gallery), Philadelphia Pa. titled “Specters of the Id” Gallery Owner: David E, Williams
2006 – Selected for: Art @ Large “Going Underground”, NYC, NY Curator: Pet Silvia
2003 – Harrisburg East Mall Fine Art and Wine Tasting (Two man show), Harrisburg Pa.
2002 – Checkered Past Exhibition, York Pa.
2002 – Historic Downtown Lancaster Art Walk, Lancaster Pa.
2001 – Square One Café and Gallery, Lancaster Pa.
2000 – Lancaster Museum of Art, Lancaster Pa.

 

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About the Artist

Christopher Wilke was born in New Jersey in 1980. His parents discovered his artistic talents early on when he drew a picture for his father who was sitting across the table from him. Instead of drawing the picture and handing it to his father, the young child drew the image upside down so that his father could see it correctly from where he was sitting. Later Christopher's parents sent him to abstract painter and Parson's Graduate with honors, Geoffery DeMarco, who instilled an interest in abstract oil painting in the young teen. Geoffery introduced him to DeKooning, Pollock, and Bacon among others.

He later moved west, and developed a serious interest in the Old Masters and their techniques, including Valezquez, Vermeer, and DaVinci as well as the 19th century Romantics such as Cot and Waterhouse. He began to research and apply their processes such as glazing and the proper use of chiaroscuro while making good use of his prodigious knowledge of the art of portrait photography which he perfected under the tutelage of Paul Skipworth and Steven Kramer, likewise influenced by such names as Sargent and Caravaggio.

Portrait photography began to play an important role in Christopher Wilke's painting and the figure became a central theme in his work. He painted with greater depth and realism, focusing on light and using the figure’s compositional importance to experiment with its function as an archetypal symbol, drawing from early childhood religious experiences.

Now residing once again in northern New Jersey, Christopher Wilke continues to experiment with the figure and its ability to create new archetypes through the use of narrative and environment. He is also actively sought out to paint private portrait and figurative art commissions for a growing clientele that are drawn to his mastery of the human form and his ability to capture not only the likeness, but the inner world of the sitter.