Meet Chris Wade | Artist & Musician

We had the good fortune of connecting with Chris Wade and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Chris, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
For a long time I felt lost in the trying to find what type of ‘real job’ to go for. But I had all this talent and all this vision, and crazy dreams and a need to share my ‘visions’ with the world. The more I drew out my ideas the more momentum I achieved, and I needed to keep the momentum going rather than suppress it by only treating it as an afterthought. My logic was this – 1) I won’t be happy unless I’m able to fully unleash the creativity in me and the only way to do that is to treat it like my full time occupation, 2) I have the artistic vision, skill, and obsession to go somewhere with it so I might as well try, and 3) I have a responsibility to fully pursue what I love, what I’m best at, what’s burning inside of me to express.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I feel I am a dreamer who never grew up or grew out of it. Somehow I managed to keep my childlike sense of imagination and enthusiasm. I managed to somehow always see the world through the lenses of the way my dreams feel. Blame it on ADHD or Synesthesia or whatever. But it’s also the spiritual nature that I always felt fueled me that I never let go of.

But this whole journey has never been easy – I am an artist in a city of engineers, and I’ve been told since I was in high school that I could never make it as an artist or musician. Social media and marketing really have been the biggest obstacles – they don’t come second nature to me. And it is not an understatement that depression, anxiety and burnout are all obstacles for creatives – creative occupations depend on keeping an ever-evolving inward perspective that requires excitement fully given to obsession to really capture, but seriously guzzles mental energy. On top of that, the work I became known for initially started from a place of anger and burnout, but turned into something I felt fascinated by and become obsessed with. It came to be described as “perfect for the city” I live in – Huntsville, the Rocket City – and seems to resonate on various levels with a lot of people.

I put great attention to detail, lighting, depth, theme, etc. into my work (blame it on being a perfectionist, hence taking months or longer on some works), and in much of my work I put my quirky humor into it, such as with my pet portraits, which seem to have overtaken my portfolio the past two years. My surreal / aerospace work, on the other hand, encapsulates the atmosphere of my dreams, heavily featuring the abandoned and the unknown, and yet possessing a quality of childlike fascination and excitement. It’s a journey of abandonment and rediscovery of our deepest, most sincere childlike nature, and diverting our gaze from our failures to what we can build with that renewed fascination. So in short, my work is really about reconnecting with the children we really are inside.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Well, there are really only two places in the city that most other cities don’t have – Lowe Mill Arts&Entertainment (biggest arts center in the South East, built in an old textile mill from 1901) where my studio is – we have over 160 art studios, several eateries and coffee shops, and concert spaces. So it’s the place to go if you love art. And the U.S. Space&Rocket Center where we have the world’s only upright Saturn V (replica) and one of three real Saturn V rockets on display – the USSRC is also the home of Space Camp. There’s also Monte Sano Mountain for hiking and camping, and Ditto Landing if you have a boat or like to walk alongside the water. Aside from that, Huntsville leisure life is primarily centered on breweries, restaurants, and more restaurants. And more breweries.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My college professor Pamela Keller for helping me recognize the direction for my art, whether or not it followed what other art teachers/critics thought I should do. Grant and Julie for being the best friends I could ask for throughout the stupid phases of my life. David Jolley for inviting me in to join him in the studio, becoming a best friend, and starting my journey as a professional artist. John Stough for introducing me to Dave, and for facilitating my first solo show at Lowe Mill Arts&Entertainment. Cassey Harrol for putting up with me as she taught me a lot of the foundational logistics to being a professional artist. My studio neighbor friends at Lowe Mill for helping me keep my sanity and being like family to me. Jahni Moore for referring me to this publication. And most importantly, my family – my dad and grandparents, and my uncles specifically – for believing in me, bearing with me, and helping and supporting my artistic shenanigans. And Amy for being here alongside me through this artistic and personal journey.

Website: www.etherealgeometryarts.com

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Image Credits
Raeley Stevenson, Ian McAlister