Born in a small town on the outskirts of Chicago, Chris
Guarino grew up drawing pictures of monsters, playing in the ruins of old
factories, and exploring the sewers and storm drains near his home. Always
a quiet
child, Chris kept to himself and his imagination through most of his
childhood. Just before his seventh birthday a nearly fatal illness changed
his life. Robbed of the ability to speak for nearly three months, Chris
was left to communicate by drawing pictures, and building characters &
creatures out of household rubbish to act out scenes to pass the time.
Although many of the pictures and "toys" he made were somewhat disturbing,
his parents encouraged what appeared to be one of the only natural talents
the boy had. When he was old enough (and well enough), his parents saw to
it that Chris was given the finest artistic
guidance they could afford.
Years later, Chris began to show his work in Chicago, making a name for
himself in the art community in Bucktown and Wicker Park. He became a
resident artist at The Aesthetic Eye Gallery in 2001, where his work
was shown and sold on a monthly basis. Longing to see what the world had
to offer him, Chris traveled to London when he was nineteen and began
working in a bronze foundry part-time, and showing his work around Camden
Town where he lived for four years. London changed Chris in ways he (still
a soft spoken young man) cannot quite put into words, except to say that
the age and immense history of the place and it's many graveyards and old
churches haunt him in a way nothing else has.
Seeking yet another change, Chris moved back to the States in 2005.
This time to the historic Capital Hill neighborhood of Denver, CO. There
he joined up with several galleries, learned to weld, and perfected his
life casting and sculpting talents under his mentor David Parvin. Since
then he has participated in countless group and solo shows in Denver, he
has dabbled in prosthetic make up sculpture for the theatre and motion
picture industry on such projects as "The Wiz" and "Ink" where he sculpted
the masks for all principle characters.
Most recently he has begun working with "Back to the Picture Gallery"
in San Francisco, CA. Now an international artist, Chris's work has
appeared in several art publications, and in 2009, 5280 Magazine named
him as their Reader's Choice for Top Local Artist. When asked what he sees
himself doing in the future, Chris is reluctant to answer. Highly
superstitious, he feels by misspeaking about his wishes for the future
he may curse himself to live out his nightmares forever in a place where
nothing changes, his heart is always sick, and there is no hope of
anything getting better. He does, however, offer us this, "No matter
what happens to me, or where I am or end up, I will always be creating
something in one form or another. Not because I am obligated to, and not
because I really gain anything from it, . . . but because I cannot
stop. . . I simply cannot stop."
Artist Statement:
Who are we, and what do we really know of ourselves?
Who can say how one will act in a given situation surrounded by a certain
set of circumstances?
I have lost, and I have loved.
I am inspired,
and I hope to inspire others,
but ultimately . . . I am a person,
so inevitably I will fail. . .
. . . from time to time to time.
I will fail you.
I will fail others.
And I will fail myself.
But hopefully when it's over,
I will learn,
and grow,
and not fail in that way again.
Different people,
different places,
different things,
all represent different tests.
Some of which I have found myself grossly unprepared for, and the results
have been much less than satisfactory.
But there is no backing out.
There is no easy circumvention around some problems.
So, I just struggle through,
trial by trial,
making an effort to make this time a little better than the last time.
Because last time, I didn't try at all.
And that is the saddest thing I have ever done.
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