POETIC SNARES: THE DIGITAL SURREALISM OF CHRISTOPHER FOOTE
by Richard Hadlin

Combining traditional painting techniques with digital assemblage and a surrealist's sensibility, artist Christopher Foote follows in the footsteps of Magritte and Chagall.

At a time when many artists have abandoned the craft of picture making, Foote employs centuries old scumbling and glazing techniques adapted to the modern age. Indeed, Foote traces his formal lineage to the 19th Century Academie Des Beaux Arts through Elinor Boehm Foote and Edmund Wuerpel, a student of the great romanticist Jean Leon Gerome.

But Foote is no prisoner to Classical Realism. His sumptuous abstractions draw the viewer into, what appears to be, a visual oasis only to reveal unforseen, and sometimes unsettling, realities.

Like the Surrealists, Foote often appropriates imagery from famous artworks and pop culture, transforming it in order to make pointed social or political commentaries. "I use familiar icons as an enticement." Says Foote. "I want people to enter a world where they feel at ease, where they can let their guard down. At that point I introduce something out of context - a riddle to challenge their expectations and cause them to search for new meanings."

Corporate commissions include Buena Vista Television, Random House, Disney, Fidelity and General Mills among others.

PROXIMA - TRENDS
(Oct. 2006)

In the summer of 2006, Christopher Foote was commissioned to create a 60' mural for the Alaska Public School system.

The artwork consists of a digital collage, featuring musicians and intruments, spanning the length of the music wing of Fairbanks High School.

The mural was created in Minneapolis, affixed to large panels and shipped to Fairbanks. Foote presided over the installation.

Recent Commissions

In March, 2004, Christopher Foote was awarded a commission by the city of Champlin, a suburb of Minneapolis/St. Paul.

Library unveils mural by artist Christopher Foote

by Kathleen Ostroot

Artist Christopher Foote was selected from over 600 artists to design a mural for the Champlin Park Library about a year ago.

Foote said he began by meeting with the Friends of the Library, and a focus group of Champlin Park students - trying to get a feeling for the sort of subject matter that might appeal to them. Pop Culture became the chosen theme.

Foote's 21' mural, which took six months to complete, is a collage of images representing the culture in Champlin from the late 1800s to the present day. It covers three walls, measuring 21 feet wide by nine feet tall. There are hundreds of images, photographs, illustrations, and patterns blended in semi-transparent layers.

Foote said the ability to work digitally on this scale has only become possible recently with the advent of new technology. It represents the "cutting edge" in the world of computer art.

"My goal is to attract teenagers to the library and provide an environment that is pleasing to them," said Foote.