BIO

Christopher Robin Duncan (b. 1974, Perth Amboy, New Jersey) is a multidisciplinary artist based in Oakland, California. Duncan utilizes the sun and the moon as well as time and the tides as conceptual and compositional prompts for both sonic and visual work. In his long term sun exposure works, sunlight and the passing of time are harnessed to create images which exist in a liminal space between painting and photography. Store bought fabrics are draped over objects or architectural structures and left outside in the elements for six months to one year. There is no emulsion or chemical process used, just time and exposure to the sun. The fabric is both placed and harvested on full moons, marking time by celestial cycle, and bookending the embedded light of the sun with the light of the moon. Upon harvest, the fabric is sun bleached and weathered with the dimensionality of the object or area it once covered, providing fades, contrasts, and unpredictable compositions. Working intuitively, the fabric is cut, sewn, painted, or stretched and left as is. Each work is meant to honor time and capture the energy of the locales in which the exposures occur. Duncan's sonic work consists of lush, tonal, open compositions created with harmonica, tuning forks, percussion, electronics, and field recordings of the ocean. Part ritual, part ceremony, Duncan's live performances often employ candle light, circumambulation, and evoke time passing in the form of setting suns and full moons. In recent years, Duncan has begun frequently experimenting with clay. With a similarly intuitive and sensitive approach, he produces ceramic instruments, vessels to hold the ocean, and functional ceramics such as cups and bowls.

Outside of his studio practice, he runs LAND AND SEA, which publishes books and records, with his partner Maria Otero.

Duncan received his BFA from California College of Arts and Crafts and his MFA from Stanford University. He is represented by Rebecca Camacho Presents and Halsey McKay Gallery.

CV

Contact

For inquires, contact
Rebecca Camacho Presents, California
info@rebeccacamacho.com

Halsey McKay, New York
contact@halseymckay.com