Recent Work

About Christopher Rice

My Background

Born 1947 Surrey England

1967 - began formal Art Education Kingston College of Art London
1968 - moved to South Africa and travelled widely
1974-1977- continued Art Education at Michaelis School of Art University of
Cape Town-Majored in Painting-
Awarded: Irma Stern Scholarship 1974,1975
Abe Bailey Bursary 1975

1978-1986-Employed in South African TV and Film Industry as Art Director and Director. Worked on many Youth Drama Productions for audiences from different ethnic backgrounds within South Africa. These programmes included 'Interster', 'Buks de la Rey', 'Keleketla' featuring electronic puppets, special visual effects and story-lines taken from legend and science fiction. They became successful, selling to 14 countries internationally.

1988 - continued painting and drawing in Cape Town

Participated in several Group Exhibitions-works sold to Private Collectors.

1998 - returned to England. Continues painting and drawing and participating in Group exhibitions.

2011 - Solo Exhibition at Galeria Pequena Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

''An early influence in my work is the time I spent as a school boy exploring the countryside in south east England. Fascinated by lakes and rivers, by fish and birds, even the smallest streams could captivate my eyes.

Later I discovered the landscape sketches of John Constable and the works of Samuel Palmer. These painters inspired me in my early attempts with watercolour, to set down my ideas about landscape painting. Throughout my art student years landscape remained the dominant subject and the expressionist style became .the main influence.

My time in South Africa also included several years working with my family on our farm in the Little Karroo. It was here that the power of this ancient arid landscape led me directly to a more austere approach in my paintings.

When I am painting I am trying to create images that contain depth of expression. I want them to be 'deep'. They must also show unity, the sense that nothing in the work could be changed and that a balance has been acheived.''

Artists I admire:
from England - John Constable, Samuel Palmer, Paul Nash, Howard Hodgkins
from France - Georges Braque, Henri Matisse
from Germany - Max Beckman, Alexei von Jawlensky, Karl Schmidt Rotluff
from Italy - Giorgio de Chirico, Giorgio Mirandi
from Australia - Sidney Nolan.