Painter Christopher Batten: Expanding Your Artistic Mind
“I don’t think the core of who I am has changed very much. It’s just the approach to my pieces has changed.”
Fighting Complacency
Painter and artist, Christopher Batten, is never complacent in his art practice. He has been using his art to make a living for a long time and continuing to grow is a way of life. His pursuit took him from Detroit to grad school at the Maryland Institute College of Arts LeRoy E. Hoffberger School of Painting , where he received a Hoffberger Merit Scholarship, the Dr. Leslie King Hammond Graduate Award, and two AIGA Worldstudio Scholarships. He spoke on Studio Noize Episode 92 about the ways in which grad school changed his approach to his work. He talked with Jamaal Barber before he started grad school, about the expectation transitioning from a full-time art schedule to an academic setting as a Black artist. The critique structure and interaction with his cohorts made him question his way of thinking and added new influences to reference. “I don't think the core of who I am has changed very much. It's just the approach to my pieces has changed.” (14:23)
Chris Batten in the studio
Chris’s work has always had a lush color palette focused on African American figures. There was always a narrative component included to tell a little bit about the person. The objects float around the people as compositional elements and also add symbolic meaning to the work. Taking a style into grad school was a struggle at first. He felt like he would paint everything with the same focus and style. It was after getting reamed in another critique that the program director at MICA gave him a suggestion that sent him on a different way of working.
“As we were talking I told her that I was a martial artist. I was studying martial arts since I was 8 and she told me it would be a good idea to kind tap into that as a way to develop how I painting gestures. My first response to that was to go into the studio and make representational paintings about fighting. When I actually sat down and did it, it came out abstract.” (19:18)
“The Quandary” oil on canvas by Chris Batten
The Grad School Shift
This was a big shift in how Chris approached his paintings. Since most of the other grads in his program were abstract painters, Chris had learned a lot about what made a good abstract painting and added their influences to his own. Along with making his own abstract work, it influences his representational paintings making it more gestural.
Exploring the martial arts lead to his next series of work that examines the fighter mentality. The series called “No Play Fighting” features an ode to his father, an accomplished martial arts trainer that continues to train to this day. While there are some images in black and white that show actual martial arts fighting the rest of the series display different kinds of fighters inspired by a visit to a rally organized by Baltimore Ceasefire.
“Young Warrior in Repose” oil and aerosol on canvas by Chris Batten
“I went to one of their rallies and it was just like seeing them. Seeing all these little kids out there with posters just trying to promote peace in the neighborhood. I mean, it was beautiful man. Like to see.. people fighting in that way.”(29:42)
Everyday Heroes
Chris chose to create portraits of the everyday struggles and everyday heroes. The paintings feature everyday heroes like Adam Levin, a cancer doctor at Johns Hopkins, whose stories almost moved Chris to tears. He also used his fellow education colleagues in the painting “Mr. Bond” and “Frankie (Dr. Gamber)”. Mr. Bond is the Dean of Students at Chris’s school Bard High School Early College (BHSEC) Baltimore and has been having support sessions for his high school students during the COVID period. Despite having his own family to care for he is going above and beyond to make sure the students have a place to voice their concerns and talk more if they need to. “Frankie” is Chris’s and Mr. Bond’s boss at the school and has an unwavering dedication to educating the students.
“She's another example, to me, of somebody I look at as like a superhero. I personally don't think I could deal with half of the things. she deals with it in the course of the day.” (37:24)
“Mr. Bond” oil and aerosol on canvas by Chris Batten
There is a vibrant red underpainting to each piece. Chris said this generally represents the passion of all the subjects. They all have a willingness and focus to keep going and keep fighting for their causes and beliefs. That symbolism is also developed from his use of color to convey emotion from his pre-grad school work. Paintings such as “Age of Innocence” which featured the floating objects that were common in his earlier work as well. Even that symbolism has been updated through the process of grad school. The objects have turned into insects. Chris said this as inspired by studying Flemish paintings and their use of insects to represent how fleeting life can be. Insects for him have more spiritual symbolism.
New Directions
The addition of aerosol and oil paint to Chris’s arsenal of techniques is another way he is progressing in his artist journey. Back in Detroit, he participated in a beautification project lead by Studio Noize fam Sydney James and seeing the mural artist using spray paint piqued an interest that he never explored until grad school. You can see the fruits of this exploration in the painting “Pomp and Circumstance” which was created from a photo of his grandfather.
“I was kind of apprehensive or a little scared to try it out. So when I got to grad school, there is an art store that's right next door to the graduate studios at Maryland's College of Art. So they were clearencing some spray paint. So I was like bet. You know, this is a good time there to try it out. So I started using it initially in my abstract work. And what I like about it is that when you spray it and then you put marks on top it then it gives the mark like a velocity or altitude.” (45:22)
“Pomp and Circumstance” oil and aerosol on canvas by Chris Batten
Going to graduate school helped push Chris into different directions. Chris was already curious and exploring the medium of painting and had an artistic curiosity that allowed him to contribute. We don’t know whether or not Chris would have gotten into abstract work and insects but it’s safe to assume this isn’t the last step on his journey as an artist.
“The grad school thing, you know, really, really open up to a lot of things that I wasn't paying attention to, you know? So I'm very thankful for that. And I think it helped my work grow. And I think it helps, you know, touch people in a different way” (39:21)
Remembering Our Sister Tamara Natalie Madden
At the end of the episode, we took some time to talk about our dear sister Tamara Natalie Madden, who passed away some years ago. Chris spoke about his close relationship with Tamara after they met on Myspace way back in the day and about how she was a huge influence in his growth as an artist. He talks about her incredible work ethic, her great sense of humor, and her amazing spirit.
Tamara Natalie Madden
“She was an amazing person. I feel privileged to have known her and to have been around her. I was in one of her paintings. I feel like to have known her is definitely an honor, for anyone. She was definitely a great, great, great, great artist. A great woman, you know. It was definitely an honor.”
RIP Tamara Natalie Madden
Links
www.mica.edu/graduate-programs/leroy-e-hoffberger-school-of-painting-mfa/
