Full Steam Ahead – From ESU to Awesome

Christopher Hummel (Class of 2019) is a 19 year old emerging young artist from Perth’s Northern Suburbs. Chris will always introduce himself with, “Hi, My Name is Christopher and I’m Autistic.”

Chris is a very accomplished young artist having been supported and encouraged through Prendiville Catholic College and by his family to pursue his arts career at an early age. Chris has exhibited and sold his artworks through exhibitions at school and on social media where he is growing a steady following on Instagram. Since finishing high school, Chris has continued to practice his art and has been supported to participate in numerous community art exhibitions including the City of Joondalup Art Awards, As We Are, The Arts for Autism and DADAA’s annual In-Focus exhibitions. Chris’ work has been on display at many gallery spaces including Gallery Central and the Art Gallery of Western Australia.

Chris has a very unique style and approach to art. At this stage in his career all of his work solely depicts graffitied trains – his favourite being the Perth A-Series model. Chris has a very deliberate and meticulous approach to his art-making and is very confident and firm in his artistic decision-making, not compromising for anyone or anything. This approach and attitude to his art-making adds character and context to his work which can’t be manipulated by anyone but him and makes for a one-of-a-kind artwork. When asked if Chris wants to paint anything different he responds: “No, but thanks for asking” and goes on with his project. Chris is fascinated by other cultures, countries and languages. These interests are represented in his artwork by the location depicted, the graffiti on the trains and in the title of his work. The location of the trains in his reference material is a big deciding factor when it comes to selecting the next train he chooses to paint.

Chris loves to travel and is frequently on wonderful adventures exploring various countries and finding unique trains and stations across the globe.  These travels and holidays are always taking place in Chris’ imagination. Chris will often plan where he is going next and coordinates his arts practice around where he is going to be at what time.

Chris’ huge volume of work is attributed to his dedicated practice and extreme commitment to his craft. When Chris starts a painting, he must have it finished by the end of Sunday, often staying up to all hours of the morning to ensure this is done. This quirky practice is what frequently dictates the size of his works keeping them quite small to moderate sized to ensure each one is completed to his standard within 1 week.

Chris is a very proud and sociable individual who loves connecting with people and introducing them to his wonderful world of Graffitied Trains. You can find Chris on Instagram under the handle of @Graffmytrain of which he independently manages with instruction and guidance from his very supportive sister, Amy.

Chris has just completed an artist residency with Midland Junction Arts Centre and the Awesome International Arts Festival with whom he had his first ever solo exhibition at the State Theatre of Western Australia.