Chris Cart | American
In 2023 the 700 square foot public mural, created by Chris Cart for Hallowell, Maine was unveiled to much fanfare with a flag guard of the American Legion and speeches by Maine’s Governor Mills, Representative Dan Shagoury and our Mayor George Lapointe.
In 2021 Cart was accepted as a Signature Member to the National Watercolor Society.
In 2019 Cart began a many year collaboration with mural master John Gable initially to create two large murals for a venue in the outskirts of Washington D.C. Since that time they have worked together on many more projects, including two more large murals for Gainesville, VA.
Chris Cart has had several pieces chosen for the annual Painting the Figure Now exhibits at the beautiful Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art WMOCA.
Another public commission was a large painting for the new Lithgow Library in Augusta, Maine, Stories from the Mezzanine.
In 2016 ompleted a 21 foot mural for the City of Bath, Maine. The theme is the “Spirit of Bath” which, of course, wraps around the history of shipbuilding in this City of Ships.
In 2015 he finished a public mural for the new Capital Judicial Center in Maine’s capital at Augusta. This 14 x 40-foot mural, a Maine Percent for Art project, called Kennebec is a maritime history of the Kennebec River with people, ships, history.
Over the years Cart has illustrated over 30 books and book covers.
He has had numerous one-man gallery shows and exhibited in galleries across Maine, in Seattle, Washington, New York City and Guadalajara, Mexico.
With a pencil or brush in hand I can create worlds within the canvas frame. The figures are my players and the canvas my stage. However, I am no fantasy artist. Reality creates the spark. My eyes open, I find things that need to be in my paintings.
I have exhibited in galleries and exhibitions in Maine, Seattle and New York City. As an illustrator I have worked for Hearst Books, William Morrow, Greenwillow Books, Random House and DownEast Books of Maine. And creating sets and playbills for theater is a thrill.
Born in Maine, I can claim that much coveted ‘native’ status but in truth I lived away a lot. My bones are solid New England stock but my blood carries the dusts of years in Mexico…and a bit of rust from the Pacific Northwest as well.
Back in my bohemian days I sold paintings at street shows and at the Pike Place Market in Seattle. Today I enjoy the luxury of having my work in a great gallery, but there is an excitement, a rawness to selling art on the street.
I currently live with my wife and fellow painter, Jen Greta Cart, in Hallowell, Maine.