Christopher Owen Nelson

Christopher Owen Nelson thrives in the vast arid landscape of the American West. As a Colorado native, he
studied fine arts at Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design where he learned classical methods in drawing
and painting. While developing a deep appreciation for composition and form, Nelson focused on employing
alternative materials; sculpting with used carpet, found objects and painting on glass. He continued on to
pursue a career in construction, whereby gaining valuable knowledge in concrete, steel and woodworking that
would eventually lay substructure for a new and innovative artistic approach. Electric power tools became
primary instruments, with paints and textiles applied at later stages in conceptual evolution.
Nelson’s creativity is fathomless, as is evident in all aspects of his life. As a successful songwriter/musician,
he conveys feelings of beauty and loss, lightness and dark intertwine. These same concepts are mirrored in his
visual art, where barren, leafless trees fracture solitary space. Nelson’s portraiture suggests that even the
people we are the most intimate with will forever remain mysterious beings. Here, beauty is drawn from the
darker aspects of life. There is a consistent thread that runs ...

Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design, Lakewood, Colorado

2016 Sentience, Waxlander Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
2015 Clarity, Aspen Art Gallery, Aspen, Colorado
2015 Out of the Darkness, The Gallery at 350 Bleecker Street, New York, New York
2015 Running From Time, Waxlander Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
2014 Subconscious Space, Waxlander Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
2013 The Fortune Tellers, Horizon Fine Art, Jackson Hole, Wyoming
2013 Absorb and Connect, Waxlander Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
2012 Anchored and Drifting, Waxlander Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
2011 Howard Schepp Fine Art, Palm Desert, California
2011 Horizon Fine Art, Jackson, Wyoming
2010 Vickers Collection, Aspen, Colorado
2009 VC Gallery of Fine Art, Sedona, Arizona
2009 Vail Village Arts, Vail, Colorado
2008 Vickers Collection, Beaver Creek, Colorado
2008 Wood River Gallery, Ketchum, Idaho
2008 Vail Village Arts, Vail, Colorado
2014 Incite Insight, Lincoln Center, Fort Collins, Colorado, Juror: Ivar Zeile
2014 Murmurations, Hinge Modern, Culver City, California, Curator: Caspar Martin
2014 Less is More, The Mitchell Gallery at St. John’s College, Annapolis, Maryland,
Juror: Dominic Iacono
2014 Shoebox International Sculpture Exhibition, MTSU Todd Art Gallery, Murfreesboro, Tennessee,
Juror: M...