Details:

In this watercolor and ink drawing, the artist depicts Napoleonic War soldiers who are “unstuck in time” while disintegrating as they time-travel around the universe. The colorful costumes and the prideful poses in which these soldiers are historically shown inspired the artist to create his growing cast of buffoonish and sinister rogues.
Unframed
Signed on the back

① Artwork:

Soldier 2

In this watercolor and ink drawing, the artist depicts Napoleonic War soldiers who are “unstuck in time” while disintegrating as they time-travel around the universe. The colorful costumes and the prideful poses in which these soldiers are historically shown inspired the artist to create his growing cast of buffoonish and sinister rogues.

Astley’s watercolor and pen drawings of Napoleonic Era Soldiers (or “time travelers,” as he thinks of them) come out of his series of paintings called “Seven Years Below,” in which historical characters get lifted out of a specific time and place and can move freely around the time-space grid. Though the soldiers stand in a raffishly elegant manner, their time travels appear to have taken a toll on them, as they seem on the verge of disintegrating both physically and mentally.

Christopher Astley’s art practice has always centered on questions concerning the underlying nature of reality. The relationship of time and space and, more recently, the codes that pervade and describe the universe have propelled his work into strange new territories.

Specs:

30 inches
22 inches

③ Artist:

Christopher Astley

Christopher Astley’s art practice has always centered on questions concerning the underlying nature of reality. The relationship of time and space and, more recently, the codes that pervade and describe the universe, such as the C G A T of DNA and 0s and 1s of digital code, have propelled the work into strange new territories.

Christopher Astley was born in 1965 in Lansing, MI, and lives in New York City, NY. He received a BGS from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI (1988).

Astley has exhibited his work at Tracy Williams Ltd. in New York City, NY (2018); Martos Gallery in New York City, NY (2014); Leo Koenig in New York City, NY (2012); The Margulies Collection in Miami, FL (2011); Bravin Lee in New York City, NY (2010); and The H&R Block Art Space at The Kansas City Art Institute in Kansas City, MO (2004), among others.

Astley’s work has been featured in Cultured Magazine, Art in America, The New York Times, Interview Magazine, V Magazine, and Gotham Magazine.

Christopher Astley:
Soldier 2, 2023
Watercolor and pen on paper
22.0 × 30.0 inches /