Biography
Christian Sullivan is a fine artist and freelance graphic designer currently working in New York, NY.  He has a BA in visual arts and art history from Bowdoin College, and has studied marble carving as an apprentice in Pietrasanta, Italy.  From a very young age, Christian has worked in oil paint, watercolor, etching, terracotta, and Carrara marble.  He worked in graphic design for the Gloucester Maritime Heritage Center in Gloucester, Massachusetts and was an organizer and coordinator for the Jimmy Fund Celebrity Art Auction hosted by Todd English at the Bonfire Restaurant in Boston, Massachusetts.  He has completed several public and private wall murals, working for the town of Gloucester, the Gloucester Public School System, and private patrons.  His paintings and etchings can be found in the C. Edmund Sullivan Gallery on the Rocky Neck art colony in Gloucester.  For more information please email info@christiansullivanart.com




Artist's Statement
My work is not based on an abstract conception, but rather it acknowledges and builds on the magnificent tradition of art history, and pays homage to the beauty of the natural world, seeking and capturing the sublime within our seemingly ordinary landscape.  I attempt to capture the beauty of the world, whether it is a quiet harbor, a raging sea, or the profile of a contemplative face.  My work is an exploration of landscape, both the human and the natural.  Each scene, whether it is an unblemished wilderness or a more civilized locale, is designed to be an open reflection of the natural world, a narrative to be lived in by the viewer.  I consider the foundations of art to be essential, and drawing is the basis of all of my work.  If the first stroke of the brush or pencil is not precise and true, then the final product will not be.  At the same time, my work is loose and expressive and attempts to avoid any sense of rigidity.  In many of my works, the artistic process is evident in the palimpsests of brushstrokes or the mark of a chisel.  Whenever possible, my work is done from life, sometimes quickly, sometimes painstakingly, always capturing the essence of the subject.  The ultimate goal of my art is to depict the natural world with sprezzatura and grace, to rely on the rules and traditions of art, and to at times discard them and allow fluid inspiration from our sublime natural world to take over.

Links

C. Edmund Sullivan Art   Musician Eddy Boston    Mary Sullivan Art    info@christiansullivanart.com