Oxmarket are delighted to welcome Christopher Cristóbal Newberry with his ever-evolving work, encapsulated in his exhibition, “Transitions”, which depicts his work at different phases of his development. He is fascinated by symmetry, repetitiveness, cycles, change, progression. His use of intense colour is very much influenced by his upbringing in Mexico, but his interest in truth, reality, perception and beliefs has been developing over the years, especially since the advent of the ‘post-truth world’.
As he puts it, he is “pulling at the heartstrings with the neurons of the mind”. He has photographed parts of reality – scenes, objects or people. Christopher says, “a photograph is literally light that has bounced off reality and into the camera”. He transforms this reality into either impossibly ‘perfect’ images or into abstractions. According to Garry Kenard, director of Art and Mind, “in Newberry’s pictures all aspects of the image are enhanced, from heightened colours to exaggerated symmetry to sharpened horizons and outlines. All of this leads to an art which can transform our emotional perception of the material world”.
Christopher’s ‘transitions’, have been:
1. “Gestalt Blue Skies”: In Gestalt theory, when we are presented with a partial view of an image, we 'complete the picture'. We invent the parts we can’t see. We give it meaning, regardless of whether it is true or not.
2. “Platonic Views”: Plato thought that our world was merely the shadow of another 'ideal', perfect world. The post-truth world presents us with simple, ‘ideal’ solutions to complicated problems. Like all ideals, they only exist in the mind and not in reality.
3. “Lockdown”: During the Covid lockdowns people were forced to look at their immediate surroundings and routines with much more time and attention. The Lockdown series consists of composite images reflecting the world at home or the mind.
4. “Abstractions”: Three dimensional reality is turned into flat, abstract images using the same palette of 20 colours.
5. “Moon Shots”: Every night, all over the world, no matter where one is, everyone sees the same moon. It looms over all humanity. Perhaps judging our follies.
Christopher was born and brought up in Mexico City. He studied Communications at the Universidad Iberoamericana. After completing his studies, he decided to travel hitchhiking in Europe. When a few months later he ran out of money, he went to London. Through a series of fortuitous circumstances he worked as a housing adviser in Notting Hill. Five years later he and his partner went to Mexico, where he directed documentaries for Mexico’s cultural television channels. He and his partner returned to London where he worked as a freelance photographer and designer.
He has exhibited extensively in Mexico City, London and Winchester. Most recently he has exhibited at The Link Gallery, Winchester; Dean Clough Galleries in Halifax; the Creative Innovation Centre in Taunton; Hampshire Open Studios; Creates Gallery, in Bournemouth; The National Art Museum in Constanta, Romania; The Other Art Fair, King’s Cross, London; The Light Room, Alresford.
