“Art for me has always been my reaction to the events swirling around me as I make my way through the day.

“One such event was the 2022 Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak fire which was just to the south of Dixon. Impressive in the huge volumes of smoke and ash that were in the air and water and brought to the forefront how close we live to disasters that often as not are manmade. Some of the pastels on exhibit here were started in the aftermath of the fires which followed the covid outbreak with the accompanying political conflagration, the subsequent invasion of the Ukraine, the disastrous attack by Hamas in Israel and the military rampages in Gaza resulting in the death and suffering of tens of thousands of women and children. The landscapes are an attempt to depict the small and large detonations that devastate our civilization while the portraits are a similar attempt to find a way to speak to the atrocities presently being carried out in the Middle East. A small success in this attempt is the best that I can hope for.”

Christopher West was born and raised in Southern Colorado and lived there until the Vietnam war draft. He served in Southern California and then in Monterey for the duration of his military time. After the war, he remained in California and spent most of his time in San Francisco. He earned his MFA in sculpture at California College of Arts and Crafts. Throughout his working life he has maintained a studio. After retirement, he spent time on the coast north of San Francisco and then in the Sierras all the while attempting to hone his pastel drawing skills. Family brought him to Dixon, New Mexico, where he now spends his time working in his studio. He has been represented by Rift Gallery since 2020.