The Twisted Art of Chris Mars

Chris Mars is an American painter and musician. He was the drummer for the seminal Minneapolis-based alternative rock band The Replacements from 1979 to 1990, and later joined the informal supergroup Golden Smog before beginning a solo career.

If there is one word to describe the art of American painter and musician Chris Mars, it’s twisted. Dark shadows, dystopian environments, hollow eyes, a cold colour palette, cadaverous figures, visions from an apocalyptic nightmare. Each painting is enough to freeze you on the spot and suck you in no matter how much you may want to look away.

To quote the artist himself “What I am trying to do, in a sense, is to draw people in and to wrestle with something that is maybe not so comfortable. And I think that is analogous to how we regard one another where there is a lack of understanding…my paintings can maybe start a dialogue in that direction - on why someone might feel uncomfortable when there’s no reason to feel uncomfortable.”

In today’s video, we’re going to not only be exploring the head-turning artwork of Chris Mars, but also his story and the meaning behind his work, that hopefully may shine a bit more light on this seemingly strange, horrific and unsettling collection of visions.

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