Christian Furr
Christian Furr, Jouissance February 2016
Born1966 (age 57–58)
Heswall, Wirral, England, UK
Known forPainting
SpouseEmma Furr
Websitechristianfurr.com

Christian Furr (born 1966, Heswall, Wirral, England) is an English painter. In 1995 he was commissioned to paint Queen Elizabeth II.

Education

Furr was educated at Ladymount Primary School, Heswall, and St Anselm's College, Birkenhead.[1] He later did a foundation course at Wirral Metropolitan College,[1] and a Fine Art degree at De Montfort University.[2]

Career

In 1995, at the age of 28, he was commissioned by the Royal Overseas League to paint Queen Elizabeth II.[1] The Queen chose Furr from among a number of artists, and the portrait was painted at Buckingham Palace. The portrait hangs on permanent display at the Royal Overseas League headquarters in London and is viewable by the public.[1] In 2002, Furr painted Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor for Westminster Cathedral along with Bishop Patrick O'Donoghue and Bishop George Stack.[3]

In 2005, Britvic commissioned Furr to create a painting marking 70 years of Robinsons (drink) the Wimbledon Championships on Centre Court. The giant canvas featuring Tim Henman and Fred Perry[4] was completed by over one thousand people at Wimbledon.[4] The original hangs at britvic headquarters, UK. In 2008, he was commissioned to paint Sultan, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia.[5]

In 2010, with the chairman, Furr presented The Duke of Edinburgh with a print of his portrait of the Queen, at the Eccentric Club.[6] In November 2012, Furr was artist and curator in the art exhibition "Liverpool Love" at the new Museum of Liverpool in aid of Claire House Hospice.[7] The exhibition included works by Yoko Ono, Sir Peter Blake David Mach,[7] and many respected artists from the art and music scene.[7]

In 2013 Furr had a show of neon artworks created with the late Chris Bracey.[8] entitled 'The Staying Alive Neon Collection'.[9]

In 2014, he was appointed to the Artists' General Benevolent Institution 'AGBI', the oldest charity in Great Britain, and was founded by J. M. W. Turner. Furr completed a portrait of Thomas van Straubenzee and Lady Melissa Percy, unveiled this year at the Chelsea Arts Club.[3]

In 2015, he was elected to become a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts His work features in prominent collections globally including 45 Park Lane the Dorchester Collection.[10]

In 2016, Furr initiated media attention [11][12] when he expressed concern that the artist Anish Kapoor had gained the exclusive rights to Vantablack, known as 'the blackest black'. Furr had planned to use Vantablack in a series of paintings called Animals, after seeing a feature on the BBC.[11][12]

In 2017, Furr collaborated with American-Ivorian contemporary artist Aboudia (Abdoulaye Diarrassouba), producing works between New York, London and Abidjan.[5]

In 2017, Furr collaborated with English photographer Gered Mankowitz on the '45RPM' collection,[5] which included artistic re renderings of Mankowitz's photographic archive and included paintings of The Rolling Stones, Kate Bush, Jimi Hendrix,[5] and Marianne Faithfull.[13] Furr's collection of cheese paintings begun in 2005, was featured on BBC Culture in 2017.[14]

In 2018, Furr launched a new super-black he initiated at the Science Museum, London,[15] developed by Imperial College London Scientists; Hin Chun Yau and Francois de Luca.[15] '7Black' was incorporated in a neon artwork in the shape of a pair of spectacles entitled Black Eye- Third Sight.[15] Furr stated that this black body material would be available to any artist that wanted to use it.[15]

In 2019, Furr was made Ambassador of Culture for Metropolitan Borough of Wirral.[16] and had a mid career retrospective exhibition of his artworks at Williamson Art Gallery and Museum.[16]

In 2022, Furr was commissioned by The Dorchester[17] on Park Lane, to create a 2.7 metre oil painting based on the Serpentine and Hyde Park.[17]

Christian Furr portrait (unknown year)

In 2023, Furr was commissioned to create his biggest painting to date by The Singapore Edition [18] on Orchard_Road, Singapore "Arrival' is a 3x4-metre acrylic and oil painting on canvas that resembles a tapestry, which is a fictional depiction of early settlers arriving in Singapore in the 19th century.[19]

Awards

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Laura Davis (27 August 2019). "New exhibition for Wirral man who is the youngest artist to paint the Queen". liverpoolecho.co.uk.
  2. ↑ "Explosive Art donated to DMU". De Montfort University. 2 March 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 "Christian Furr". liverpoollove.org. 2012.
  4. 1 2 "Wimbledon's crowd drawing Henman". bbc.co.uk. 21 June 2005.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Sotheby's New York to auction joint artwork by millennial art-market sensations' Furr and Aboudia'". alt-africa.com. 25 August 2022.
  6. ↑ "Christian Furr presents HRH Duke of Edinburgh, a portrait of the Queen at the Eccentric Club 2010". Eccentric Club - instagram. 2010.
  7. 1 2 3 "Liverpool Love". liverpoollove.org. 2012.
  8. ↑ "Chris Bracey - obituary".
  9. ↑ "Home". stayingaliveneon.com.
  10. ↑ "An Artful Deco at the Newest Hotel in Mayfair". standard.co.uk. 2015.
  11. 1 2 "Anish Kapoor angers Artists". artnet.com. 2016.
  12. 1 2 "Anish Kapoor's Vantablack Advantage". theoxfordculturereview.com. 11 March 2016.
  13. ↑ "BBC News interview with artists Christian Furr and Gered Mankowitz". vimeo.com. 24 July 2017.
  14. ↑ "The cheese that inspired Dalí". bbc.com. 3 May 2017.
  15. 1 2 3 4 "The Sun: Living With Our Star - Art -See the New Black (page 3)" (PDF). sciencemuseum.org.uk. 5 November 2018.
  16. 1 2 "Renowned Artist Backs college's culture plans". liverpoolecho.co.uk. 2019.
  17. 1 2 Angela Green (27 July 2022). "New contemporary art collection to be unveiled at The Dorchester". Hospitality and Catering news.
  18. ↑ Pauline Brettell (21 November 2023). "EDITION debuts in South East Asia with hotel arrival in Singapore". Hotel Designs.
  19. ↑ Vincent Vichit Vadakan (29 November 2023). "Josh Niland Goes Global With the Launch of Fysh, His First Restaurant Outside of Australia – And Meat Is on the Menu". Broadsheet.
  20. 1 2 "The cheese that inspired Dalí". Art UK. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
  21. 1 2 "AOC Hall of Fame 2004". Association of Colleges website. Archived from the original on 24 August 2013.
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