Christopher Meredith
"Mid Western muscle to Middle Eastern flourishes."

Christopher Meredith credits his experience in the U.S. Navy with spurring his already strong fascination with the Middle East. "Even as a child, he explains, "I would pour through National Geographic magazines at the library, fascinated by the bright, bold colors of the buildings, fabrics, the food: everything.

"Shortly after high school I enlisted in the Navy - my first extended trip away from Neosho, Missouri (hometown of one my favorite Regionalists: Thomas Hart Benton.) During my six years in the U.S. Navy, I was fortunate enough to visit and view with my own eyes the vibrant and beautiful towns and people of Greece, Israel, Spain, and Saudi Arabia.

I spent every day ashore trying to absorb as much of the color, style, flavor, and culture unique to each country as I could. The islands of Greece, the mosques of Saudi Arabia, crowded city streets of southern France; I now draw much of my color palette from the memory of these brief excursions, using the curling, flowing arabesque line to pull the viewer's eye around the panel."

Encaustic painting dates back to the ancient Greeks and Egyptians. The process involves heating beeswax to a molten temperature, applying it to a support (a sculpture or panel)and then fusing pigment into it. The natural cooling of the wax seals in the color which can have successive layers applied to it.

In the early 20th century, with the invention of portable heating devices, the practice of encaustic was revived with
intriguing results by such artists as Jasper Johns and Arthur Dove.

Speaking about his process in making his wax on wood panels, Meredith describes "…the line work of the arabesque, loosely based on my memory or interpretation of Arabic characters, is often carved into, gouged, or scraped back to reveal the layers of color hidden beneath the surface, much like the many layers of paint found on the roadside advertisement signs found throughout the winding highways of my native Southwest Missouri. I really enjoy this juxtaposition: using elements and memories of the Midwest alongside those of the Mediterranean and Middle East."

"Caged"

"Blue Arabesque Study"

"Camille"

"Multicolor Arabesque"

"Misfire"

"Red Arabesque Study"


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