Chris Austin: Contrasts

Chris Austin: Contrasts
August 2nd - August 23rd, 2025
- Chris Austin
  Hide And Seek Until We Meet, 2025
  gouache on wood
  12 x 24 in
  30.5 x 61 cm
  
  $ 4,000.00
Harman Projects is pleased to present CONTRASTS, a solo exhibition of new works by Toronto-based painter Chris Austin. Known for his dreamlike paintings of wildlife anachronistically navigating suburban and urban settings, Austin's latest body of work builds on his unique surreal visual language. This will mark the artist's second solo presentation with Harman Projects and his first solo exhibition in San Francisco.
- Chris Austin
  Seen Through Lost And Open Eyes, 2025
  gouache on wood
  18 x 18 in
  45.7 x 45.7 cm
  
  $ 4,000.00
- Chris Austin
  Uninvited Frost, 2025
  gouache on wood
  18 x 18 in
  45.7 x 45.7 cm
  
  $ 4,000.00
Austin's work explores the precipice of narrative and metaphor. In CONTRASTS, marine life drift quietly through familiar yet eerily ominous terrains: snow-covered streets, dimly lit intersections, and quiet neighborhoods under sodium light. These improbable juxtapositions unsettle and invite, prompting the viewer to confront their own sense of alienation while also sparking imagination and delight.
- Chris Austin
  Long Winters Night, 2025
  gouache on wood
  14 1/2 x 16 1/2 in
  36.8 x 41.9 cm
  
  $ 3,300.00
- Chris Austin
  Voices Carry, 2025
  gouache on wood
  12 x 18 in
  30.5 x 45.7 cm
  
  $ 3,000.00
Rendered in rich hues and cinematic lighting, the works suggest the filmic tension of Edward Hopper's twilight scenes (House at Dusk, 1935) and cerebral surrealism of René Magritte (Le Domaine d'Arnheim, 1962).

At the heart of Austin's practice lies a personal mythology stemming from his own deeply personal autobiographical experiences.
- Chris Austin
  Nowhere Road, 2025
  gouache on paper mounted on wood
  8 x 16 in
  20.3 x 40.6 cm
  
  $ 1,800.00
- Chris Austin
  Fighting to Escape Your Mind, 2025
  gouache on paper mounted on wood
  7 x 9 in
  17.8 x 22.9 cm
  
  $ 1,100.00
The artist describes his aquatic protagonists as "symbolic anchors" drawn from his own childhood experiences embodying moments and memories of both chaos and clarity.

Marine life, in particular, becomes a recurring metaphor for higher consciousness and emotional refuge. The scenes he paints are less about a literal coexistence of worlds than about navigating more abstract psychological terrains: moments of serenity and silence cast into the wake of dissonance and estrangement.
- Chris Austin
  Out Past Curfew, 2025
  gouache on paper mounted on wood
  6 x 8 in
  15.2 x 20.3 cm
  
  $ 1,000.00
- Chris Austin
  Road Trip, 2025
  gouache on paper mounted on wood
  6 x 8 in
  15.2 x 20.3 cm
  
  $ 1,000.00
Chris Austin is a painter and sculptor living and working in Toronto, Canada, whose paintings depict captivating scenes imbued with a surreal luminescence. His works are inspired by his travels through North America, and in particular, the Pacific Northwest.Chris explores the fluctuating state of nature and our place within that narrative. The underlying theme of his artwork is the climate crisis and the irreversible impact it has on wildlife. Chris also seeks to change the perspective of predator animals by introducing an alternative view of these majestic creatures. His paintings depict a surreal luminescence and captivating scenes.

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Chris Austin: Contrasts

Chris Austin: Contrasts

Rendered in rich hues and cinematic lighting, the works suggest the filmic tension of Edward Hopper's twilight scenes (House at Dusk, 1935) and cerebral surrealism of René Magritte (Le Domaine d'Arnheim, 1962).

At the heart of Austin's practice lies a personal mythology stemming from his own deeply personal autobiographical experiences.

The artist describes his aquatic protagonists as "symbolic anchors" drawn from his own childhood experiences embodying moments and memories of both chaos and clarity.

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