r christopher vest

Chris Vest is a self-taught artist with a 25 year background in pen and ink drawing, oil painting, scratch board, photography and screen printing. In the 1990s he embraced the computer revolution and developed a way to merge painting and photography in the digital medium. In the tradition of Alfred Stieglitz's "Photo-Secessionist" movement, the photographic image is transformed by intense painterly manipulation to create textures and effects that attempt to bridge the unique properties of photography and painting, a process he has dubbed the "painted photo montage".

Chris professional...

Chris Vest is a self-taught artist with a 25 year background in pen and ink drawing, oil painting, scratch board, photography and screen printing. In the 1990s he embraced the computer revolution and developed a way to merge painting and photography in the digital medium. In the tradition of Alfred Stieglitz's "Photo-Secessionist" movement, the photographic image is transformed by intense painterly manipulation to create textures and effects that attempt to bridge the unique properties of photography and painting, a process he has dubbed the "painted photo montage".

Chris professionally divides his time between fine art, graphic design, and natural history illustration. He is currently contributing to a birding field guide to be released soon by the American Bird Conservancy. Chris is the featured artist at this year's "Festival of the Cranes" and the Bosque del Apache NWR, and will appear in the juried show: "Focus on Nature", the natural history illustration exhibition at The New York State museum.

After years of wandering, traveling and living in Alaska, Switzerland, Israel, Wyoming, Virginia and Kansas, Chris now lives with his partner Cathy and 25 companion animals on a six acre farm near Dolores, Colorado. Together they are restoring the land, formerly badly overgrazed by cattle. In addition, they operate a small animal shelter, rescuing and fostering animals from across the four corners area. All profits help this animal rescue effort.