Chris Makes Art

In October of 2022 Chris Makes Art (real name: Chris Wright) responded to a few interview questions for the Atlanta Street Art Map:

Can you summarize the highlights of your journey from childhood to present day Atlanta?

I’m originally from San Francisco, but moved to Georgia to go to SCAD on a scholarship. Always a creative kid. Art was encouraged when I was young, but was seen as a “joke career” as I got older. It was the class you could come to stoned after lunch break and still get a B. I was semi-forced into going a different route for my first year of college. After a year of re-realizing I’m dyslexic and this is a huge waste of time, I applied to SCAD and got accepted. Georgia isn’t perfect, but the cheaper rent at the time was a huge help. It allowed me to make some mistakes and get my career going.

Please describe your artwork for those who haven’t seen it yet?

My artwork is colorful and stupid. Low brow art with sometimes a message, but not necessarily. Always a little cheeky sense of humor. I had an ass-load of pretentious art in college, and I’ve always pushed back on that self important shit. My goal is to be a huge disappointment to everyone trying to put Art on a pedestal.

How did you develop your particular sense of humor that often appears in your work?

I was a fat unpopular kid and bullied mercilessly. If you’re getting your butt kicked, you have to figure out how to diffuse the situation. In general, when you have a crap childhood, diverting misery into humor is a positive thing. Cartoons and MAD Magazine were a great relief for me. Somehow I stumbled onto George Carlin at a young age, and he was so anti-establishment. That had a huge effect.

How did you get started painting murals?

I started in theater. Used to act and do improv. Theaters have zero budget. You’ll find yourself building stages, painting backdrops, anything to get the show on. Painting backdrops lead to joining the film union and doing painting/sculpture for that industry. I hated the hours and decided to branch out. I did work for almost nothing at first, until I built up a clientele organically.

Is your approach to sign painting for businesses different from your approach to mural painting?

Sign painting is a necessity for a lot of businesses. Murals are less so. Figure out how to do both, and you don’t have to outsource the work to another company. Whether it’s murals or signs, if I’m getting paid, I see myself as a contractor first. That means I write contracts and invoices. I expect to be paid on time, because this isn’t my hobby, it’s my job.

How did the Covid pandemic impact your work?

There was a sense of panic at the beginning of the pandemic. At the beginning everyone was staying inside their homes. No one was outside. Thank god, because it was a great time to paint outside and not get hassled by anyone. I got tons of guerrilla style murals done during lock down. I’m a self employed artist. I know that some people were getting government relief left and right. I got zero help. Instead of being butt hurt about it, I got to work and made as much art as possible.

Can you talk a little bit about how you modify vintage artwork?

I went to an artist talk at Scad for this artist named, Wayne White. Wayne White was the art director for Peewee’s Playhouse. He’s a puppeteer and all around creative guy, but after the show ended, he started painting words and phrases on canvases. They were really funny, but also well executed. That work indirectly inspired my work later on. You see, when you find a crappy thrift store painting there’s an existing subject matter, then you can paint on top of it to spice things up. It’s usually humorous, colorful and violent. There’s also the added benefit that most of the painting already exists. I can just add my stupid details and it’s done fairly quick. Because of that speed, I sold these paintings for a while as cheap as I could. I wanted people to have original art without breaking the bank. I see plenty of other artists doing similar work. I don’t claim to be the only artist doing this, but I have made a metric shitload of these pieces.

Anything else that you would like the readers to know?

I see a lot of corporate money going into public art these days. I have no issues with that. Please give me cash so I can go to the beach and drink mudslides. That being said there’s a lot of self policing in the art world. Trying to get artists to tone down their subject matter. It’s all fine and dandy, but I’d like to see people shake things up. Remember when hip hop came on the scene and people were losing their shit. Ice-T was trailed by the FBI for writing a dang song. My point is, we need enough people in this game willing to make this interesting. Otherwise, we’re all going to be stuck making painted wallpaper. You don’t have to go out of your way to be an asshole, but if you have something to say, say it. Don’t be reckless, but don’t be afraid to be interesting. Your favorite artist, actor, musician all get negative comments online. Who cares! People have horrible taste. Be somebody and make a statement.

Link to Chris Makes Art’s website: https://chrismakesart.com/

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