Chris Kauffmann is a mixed-media artist who works fluidly between painting, collage, sculpture and video. A running thematic throughout his work is digesting the complexity of the construction of the self in contemporary society—questioning in particular how self-development is shifted or distorted in the digital age. Working in a playful register, Kauffman traverses figurative and abstract painting and will often blend and mix different media within single works, also incorporating everyday items into this cocktail. Past works have seen him paint and collage on top of digital prints, attach key chains onto canvas, or adorn gesturally painted canvas with confetti with the artist’s face printed onto each square. Fragments of portraiture surface in other works, either with images of the artist’s friends or photos of the artist throughout his life. The playful juxtapositions that Kauffman conjures in his oeuvre links his practice to Dadaism, whilst the use of collage and continual references to pop culture also ties his practice to Pop Art tendencies. Despite these art historical similarities, Kauffmann is working in an entirely novel register, puckishly unravelling the puzzling state of identity in the contemporary. ...
