Chris Schulz, BHS Alum, Wows Art World with Creations
By Trina Runner on May 23, 2015 via Connect-Bridgeport.com
For some, treading into unfamiliar territory is scary. For Chris Shultz, it’s a rush. One that inspires him to create unique images that captivate his audience in ways they never imagined. “All humans have an inclination to create things,” the 2001 BHS graduate says. “As we grow up, unfortunately, many people lose the curiosity and the uninhibited nature needed to create. I am very fortunate to have stuck with it and to continually be inspired by the world around me.”
With three private collections to his credit, word of Shultz’s talent has spread throughout North Central West Virginia. As a recent graduated of Fairmont State University, his works have been featured in the Monongahela Arts Center, the J.D. Brookes Gallery in Fairmont, and in Issue 31 of Whetstone Journal. The Main Street Café in Clarksburg and the Black Bear Restaurant in Morgantown have both been privileged with displaying his art and he was one of the inaugural artists featured in the Clarksburg Art Walk.
Shultz is a FSU Merit Award recipient, as well as a William White Scholar. His award-winning pieces draw from the juxtaposition of figure and abstraction and are manifested in unconventional mediums such as spray paint, oils and graphite. “The realization of ideas onto a two-dimensional surface requires me to seek out imagery in a variety of places,” he says. “By constantly altering the mediums in which I make the first mark, the paintings grow and unravel in a new way each time.”
He describes his artistic process as one of “guided spontaneity.” This method allows him to react to and direct the work as it develops, creating unexpected paintings that lure the eye far deeper than the surface of the work. “All of my paintings are a direct response to my immediate experience. The entire world around me is electric and alive and serves as a constant source of inspiration.”
