Christian French
Christian French is an artist, curator and arts activist who pushes boundaries, connects community, facilitates excitement, and shakes things up. From spandex-suited crusading on public transportation to shipping container concerts, his eclectic and non-conformist gestures deliver on the promise of art’s ability to conduct and disturb.
Originally trained in photography and experimental cinema, Christian moved to Seattle in 1994. He cut his artistic teeth as an early member of SOIL and has served as a board member of Allied Arts, the Executive Director of the live-work advocacy organization ArtSpace Seattle, a founding editor of Red Headed Stepchild, and Artist-in-Residence with Sound Transit, where he developed the Link light rail station pictograms. He has a long history of exhibiting work in artist-run and alternative spaces, as well as showing in and programming non-traditional venues. Using everything from disco balls to lottery tickets, found objects and cultural memes, Christian’s humorous yet omnivorous, medium and media-spanning approach equally delights and mystifies.
Currently maintaining a studio at Seattle’s Hiawatha Lofts, Christian continues to explore photography as well as sculpture using items gathered at nearby thrift stores, and is working toward his dream of turning his 1976 VW microbus into a Japanese-style tea room for two, in a project titled Zen Van: The Wheels of Dharma.
Artist Support Program 2005 (with Mark Johnson): Edit and mix live recordings documenting his installation and music using steel shipping containers as instruments.
