Affiliated Artists Christopher Martin Hoff

Affiliated Artist
Christopher Martin Hoff Images | Resume

Christopher Martin Hoff, noted Seattle painter, returns to the Linda Hodges Gallery in May for his fourth solo exhibition. Hoff will present a new body of plein air work featuring various locations throughout Seattle.

For At the Wall - In His Wake, Hoff embarks on a chronicle of structures and sites placed in "limbo" due to the recent economic recession. Empty lots, fire damaged buildings and urban decay provides the backdrop for Hoff's tableaus, but his interest in the fate of his subjects goes beyond simple documentation. Visits to the Downtown Library for researching the locations follows, and at the same time, Hoff begins to make associations between his paintings and the novel, Moby Dick. The culmination of this homage to Melville and research at the library is revealed in the particular "edits" Hoff integrates into his work. Certain details, such as the light at a time of day, or the chance evolution of a work site, become "bookmarks," places in Hoff's paintings that represent a notation for characters or theme in Melville's book. The result is a brilliant synthesis of painting and book chapter; a literary adventure projected onto a painting process. Christopher Martin Hoff received a B.F.A. in 1998 from the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia. His work is in the permanent collection of the City of Seattle, and he was awarded the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Award to pursue a project documenting the reconstruction of the World Trade Center in New York City. Hoff was recently featured in the 2010 edition of New American Paintings, Juried Exhibitions-in-Print.