Monday, July 5, 2021
The University of Waterloo Library is pleased to reintroduce Imaginarium — a place devoted to inspiring and realizing new artistic, scientific and philosophic pursuits. Please enjoy this virtual exhibition. 
Chris Shantz is our artist of the month for July. Chris has been doing art for as long as he can remember, but painting is a relatively new medium he has been exploring for the last two to three years. Growing up in Kitchener-Waterloo in the 70's, Chris says his piece Downpour was inspired by factories like "Rumple Felt or Uniroyal with their rusted metal and grimy brickwork, things that you would associate with industry and I always associated that with K-W." Chris was also inspired by "the early 90's with the rise of 'grunge,' you saw a more 'industrial' or 'grimy' look in graphic design which I always liked."
Chris' acrylic painting Downpour captures the essence of a patina, as each layer of colour leaves to the imagination the journey and transformation of this piece. The collection of layers imitate a patina's process. The acrylic painting's abstract style draws the viewers' attention to the vertical dark streak of grey on the left, which in turn, contrasts with various shades of blue. Hints of dark greys in between the blues give viewers hints as to what is underneath.
For Downpour, Chris decided to follow an abstract style because of the endless interpretations. Different factors can influence how a work is viewed, from an individual's perspective, time, to even "how the light catches it." ... Works like Downpour "changes from one day to the next." Underneath the layers of Downpour, Chris thinks "of one of those rainfalls that are so hard that they blur out everything in front of you for a short time."
What do you see?
