about-Chris-Pelchen

Chris Pelchen is a self-taught Melbourne based artist with a natural flair for

artistic pursuits. Chris grew up in country Victoria and, influenced by his surroundings, began drawing and painting landscapes at a young age. He drew early inspiration from local influences similar to Pro Hart and then The Heidelberg School's Arthur Streeton, Tom Roberts and Frederick McCubbin.

With his talent for painting with a brush, Chris became an award winning

traditional Signwriter in the 1980's, establishing his own business, Professional Signs,

which has been operating successfully for over 25 years.

Chris reignited his love for creative painting in 2007 when he completed a

number of courses at the CAE Melbourne College in Life Drawing and in Portraiture.

It is apparent from his portrait work that Chris has a unique ability to capture the

"essence" of his subject. Chris has since completed several commissioned portraits

for various customers.

Contemporary influence of artists such as Brett Whiteley, John Brack , Jeffrey Smart and Richard Larter have had a significant impact on Chris' work. This influence, together with the experience Chris has gained as a hand-crafted Signwriter over the years, has led Chris to experiment with different colours, materials, mediums and textures.

Chris lived in the Czech Republic and studied at Prague College doing technical drawing and life drawing at various studios, to enhance the quality and composition of portraits and drawing skills. Travelling to New York, London and Europe, he visited many amazing galleries to study techniques and draw inspiration from the finest artists in the world. Since returning from Europe, resumed painting and completed 2 solo exhibitions and a Certificate IV in training and assessment at Box hill Institute.

Chris draws mainly from original photography for his subjects, "There is something magical about using a paint brush and depicting an image on a canvas, whatever the medium"