Bio

Anto Christ is a Maltese-born, Australian-raised artist whose body of work incorporates varying media including crochet, painting, photography, make-up, costume, video, performance and installation. Innovative and experimental, she speaks from a surrealist perspective that presents in psychedelic, shape-shifting forms. Her paintings of multi-layered images, splats and drawn detail come to life before your eyes. Like cloud watching, Anto Christ’s paintings are open to be interpreted differently by each viewer.

Anto Christ is motivated by her desire to break through modern-day boundaries of excessively rational, traditional and conservative thought, resulting in a challenging and thought-provoking quality to her work.

Graduating from COFA with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2010, Anto Christ’s work continues to evolve. This evolution reveals an ever-changing alternate universe of intricate detail and pure colour explosion. As the creator of her own universe, Anto Christ brings her own fantastical world to life. This can be seen in her original painted characters making their transformation into stunning, painstakingly handcrafted 3-dimensional crocheted creatures.

Most recently, Anto Christ collaborated with fellow artist Casio Ono for her exhibition Outside the Realm of the Natural World. Together they accomplished a visually riveting performance installation, incorporating soft sculpture, musical elements and theatrical storytelling that takes one into the depths of a unique space and time.

In addition to her many artistic endeavours, Anto Christ keeps busy as co-founder and co-organiser of The Colour Parade and The Carnival of Electric Illusions. The Colour Parade has been active annually in Sydney and Melbourne since 2007, with international focus commencing in 2013. Like her performance installations, these events aim to bring people together through an appreciation of colour, open-mindedness and diversity. Anto Christ’s vision operates on directly questioning the status quo and addressing negative values and patterns of thought within society.

Currently based in Berlin, Anto Christ’s distinctively original style is constantly evolving and inspiring others as she brings them together through an active curiosity of the world.

Artist’s CV

Anto Christ
Born, 1985 Malta, raised in Sydney Australia, Resides in Berlin

ACADEMIC
2006- 2010 • Bachelor of Fine Art, COFA, Sydney, Australia.
2006 • Diploma of Fine Art, Kensington TAFE, Sydney, Australia.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2012 • Resurrection outside the realm of the natural world, Plump Gallery, Sydney, April
2011 • Mind Gardens, Mutations and R/evolutions FabLab, Berlin, Germany, January.
2010 • Evolve Already The Doctor’s Gallery, Sydney, May
2007 • Mutations Of Evolutions Little Oxford Gallery, Sydney, Nov

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2015• Adornisim, The Ballery, Nollendorfst 11, Berlin, Germany, August 12th.
2015• External Planes, Kaleidoskop Gallery Boddinstr 7. Berlin , German, Feb 20th.
2014• Pop up Art Gallery Hohenstaufenstraße 60, 10781 Berlin, Germany, April
2013• Home and Housed, Hazelhurst Regional Gallery, Gymea, Sydney Australia, Jun
2012 • The Colour Parade, Melbourne, February.
2011 • The Superusers – AV Extravaganza Serial Space, Sydney, December
2011• The Glitta Militia Harvest Festival, Parramatta Park, November
2010 ` • Being Born Again Couture Show: National Art School Cell Block Theatre, Sydney, April
2009 • The  Colour Parade, Sydney, Town Hall steps, April
2008 • The Colour Parade, Town Hall steps, April
2007• The Colour Parade, Town Hall steps, April

AWARDS/ PRIZES
2010 • Oxford Art Drawing Prize: First place.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
2010 • Claire Veal, Artist Bio, published at the evolve already exhibition, May
•  Chris Palvich, I am an anarchist, I am the Anto christ MX Magazine, May, Page 2
• Ryan Lobo Le freak Se Sheek issue Pages online, 2008

ADORNISIM THE MANIFESTO
ADORNISTS OF THE WORLD UNITE!!!!

“The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your existence is an act of rebellion” – Albert Camus

Adornisim -”the act of over decoration in art or self”.

Adornism is not new. Adornisim goes back to the early days of humanity, when man painted his face for hunting games or ceremonies. Although the word and ideas we have created behind it may be new, people have been decorating their bodies and the world around them for tens of thousands of years, yet somehow in the 21st century most people conform to the recycled uniforms and ideas that are seen as “normal”. As an Adornist we wish to express the utopia that we could live in through our everyday adornment, in art and life, through our own creation. We have became tired with this mass produced and hyper consumerist society. We strive to be gone with this age of conservatism whereby the general public easily consume white and grey ideas day after day.

The 21st century art world currently feels more like the Paris salon of the 19th century when institutions and conservatives combined to suffocate the field of unique work being created at the time. Today, we bear witness to these victims of the “art” world who are on the same white stagnant walls that are tainted with the stank of complacency and replicated clones. “Artists” are creating work in a white cube for a white cube and not only must they be able to create, they are forced to adapt into a scholar role or be a member of academia in order to receive validation from their peers and the art institution.
We seek an alternative art model in this new age of cultural competition, digital and otherwise, which has made the art world dogma seem increasingly quaint. We are able to connect with a myriad of hybrid ideologies through the Internet, and on other democratizedtools and platforms. We consume this information with an insatiable hunger that can never be quenched. Our brains are over saturated with images and information. We do not cramp up holding our heads in the corner of the room saying “everything has been done before, so why bother”. We are not frozen or intimidated by this overflow. We have a valve through which we can let it run out, like an opulent stool of pure beauty and inspiration.
As Adornists we must therefore lead by example and explore through our expression the ideas set out in these writings.

1. Colour
We see the importance of colour in the world as vital. Colour is not owned by the adolescent nor is it reserved for special occasions. It’s existence is to be experienced and enjoyed. We are living in a time where more colours are accessible than ever before yet when we look around city landscapes and the general populace, colour is largely unexplored. To embrace colour is to be seen in the eyes of the majority as childish, novelty or unprofessional. We see colour as a celebration. Colour is our freedom. Colour is our voice. We want to see the world through the eyes of a mantis shrimp, we want to explore the realms of a rainbow without the limitations of
the human eye. (or human judgements) Although you can still do a neutral shade like black or white in an Adornist way. As long as an over lapping of detail is involved so in turn creating the kinetic Adornist effect.

2. Works.
In the chosen path as Adornists it is our responsibility to create works that satisfy our own visions and ideas over any external influences such as the current trend of the week. Our works are “autotelic”, from the Greek words auto (self) and teles (goal), which as defined by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, is “an activity we do for its own sake because to experience it is the main goal”. Adornist creations move and crawl with detail and skill, that have been explored and developed by the individual. That touching and detailed handiwork breaths the life and soul into that image or object. With time and perseverance we see each creation through to the very last detail and when we step back to assess what we have created it is a breathtaking and fundamental expression of how we experience existence.
We don’t want to deal with these overly mass produced pieces, created with bloody hands for people to consume cheaply. We breath new life into an otherwise dead, discarded or damaged object. We are not uniformed cogs, we are titillating circuit boards! We are firm believers that less is not more. In our daily lives we see our image as far from endeavours of vanity, our outer transformations are a reflection of our inner transformations.

3. Influences.
Adornists search for their inspiration from many different environments. It is like a process of cross-pollination in which ideas or objects from seemingly incongruous domains merge to produce surprising new meanings and perspectives. We create a complex and contradictory art based on the richness and ambiguity of the modern experience.

4. Life.
Adornisim is an extension of us, like an arm or an extra nipple. We are bi-products of today’s “reality”. We are the concentrated sediment of an alternative society. We are here to reprogram humanity and make them realise that all the rules have been thrown out the window. Forget what you have been taught, reinvent your reality through your creativity. Adornisim isn’t just an art movement, it’s a species movement.

5. Community.
We acknowledge and warrant that Adornism has come before us, and exists within us today. We respect and acknowledge these Adornists who have forged the way:

Yayoi Kusama, Leigh Bowery, The Cockettes, Elsa von Freytag- Loringhoven, Frida Kahlo, Gilbert and George, Jack Smith, Eva and Adelle, Steven F. Arnold…..this list can go on forever…….

Current Artist’s that fit the Adornist frame are:
Anto Christ , Casio Ono, Rubbish Fairy, Alexandra Moonage, Hellza Haus, Adrian De Giorgio, Holly-Anne Buck, Daria Mårchik, Nathan French, Josephine Seeger, Jose Vigers, Justin Shoulder, Hanako, Hugo Rourke, Benjamin Fraser, Sha Gaze, Ooozzing Gloop, Mad Kate, Andrej Vile, Joko Koma, Muffinhead, Ryan Burke, Regrette Etcetera, Nosslo- Grebnellaw Aniluap, Antoine Timmermans, Devin Mohr, Anne Sophie Cochevelou, Sue Kreitzman, Daniel Lismore, Gregory Jacobsen, MC Gaff E, Le Pustra, Rufus Backman Ossandon, Hedo Luxe, Boychild, Maria Psycho and Designers like Johannes J. Jaruraak Hungry, Raki Fernandez, Yukiko Pica Yamane,  Shayli Harrison, Anthony Aitch, Marina Dellamore, Tata Christiane, Nixi Killick.

(Note: some of the people listed here may or may not associate with Adornisim. This is merely the opinion of the writer to give you, the reader, a fair example of all the facets that Adornisim comes to represent. The mention of these talented and unique beings is more as a point of reference. We also wish to acknowledge that their are many more artists and people who fit into the Adornist framework and we wish for them to join us.)

What we want in ADORNISIM.

1. Using multiple textures, objects, overlapping of lines or images to create a kinetic effect, like that one experienced when looking at nature.
2. Making works with a soul that will help re-program humanity.
3. Creating works for yourself and not for someone else whether it be the art world, an
institution or society at large.
4. Obtain the unimaginable through experimentation, chance and the discarded.
5. Destroying all art that is mundane, stagnant and thought of as a fixed idea of what “modern” is.
6. To create art in our everyday walking lives.
7. In with the original and out with the copied.
8. To explore colour, in all its vibrate shades and hues.
9. To support and encourage the fellow artists around you. (weather they are Adornisist or not)

If Dadaists defined Dada as “Nothing” then we define Adornism as “Everything”.

Written by Anto Christ.

With thanks to Casio Ono, Alexandra Moonage and Jess Mills.