“Christopher Jewitt creates 'all over' compositions that are figurative and beguilingly abstract, however it is his titles that belie the figuration in these seemingly abstract fields of illustrative forms, cyphers and mark making.
A keen, popping and wide ranging palette comes together in Jewitt’s paintings concealing four distinct, evenly treated layers of airbrush, acrylic, oil and oil stick, vigorously built up across the 'all over' picture plane. These vibrant and automatic compositions are subtly pulled back and toned down by a simple execution on raw linens and raw canvas.
His work recall various schools of painting and precursors across diverse classifications of image making - perhaps the tighter practitioners among Melbournes 1980's RAW painters; passages which allude to Keith Haring and the auto bricolage of Jean Michel Basquiat in 1980's New York; the mid-20th Century CoBrA painters; in addition to Latin American folk art traditions of pattern making.” - Written by Murray White
About this selected body of work:
‘Christopher’s work has an unwavering and captivating aesthetic. Yet these works are more than just a celebration of colour and pattern: they’re a celebration of life itself, in all its confusion.
In this selected body of work Christopher encourages us to re-learn the act of seeing and to view paintings in a way that delves beneath the canvas, into the worlds of introspection and interpretation.
Helped by his expressive mark making and voltaic saturations of colour Jewitt’s paintings are both cultivated and voluptuous.
While Christopher’s work is peppered with visual narratives of tragedy or celebration, he acknowledges the aesthetic charm of his work. With zigzags layered upon swirls and lines overlapping dots, Christopher’s work creates both a sense of stability and of uncertainty: the moment we find ourselves, we are instantly lost again.’
