About Christopher Umana

     Christopher Umana is a Southern California native now residing in Northern Nevada.  His work depicts the human condition as represented through anthropomorphic figures.  His pieces have been described as "one frame movies" that show the connections between humans, animals and insects, flora and fauna.  He draws inspiration from the similarities in social behavior between man and animal, and he focuses on personal topics such as life and death in correlation to different cultural reactions and superstitions related to these subjects while also maintaining a respect for the otherworldly.  He combines loose and organic backgrounds with tightly rendered characters which is a tribute to both the comic artists he admired growing up, and the primitive feelings he remembers from preschool finger-painting.

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     Umana has shown extensively in galleries and museums across the United States and Europe and is in private collections worldwide. His work has been recognized by American Illustration and SILA, Society of Illustrators Los Angeles, and his work has been seen in a variety of media from covers of the Los Angeles Journal to an album cover for critically acclaimed electronic musician, Venetian Snares.  He is one of the featured artists in the Lowbrow Tarot Project with book and card deck to be released in October, 2012.  His work was recently seen projected on 9x12 foot screens in New York as part of the epic show, Art Takes Times Square.  The painting, Le Rêve d’Absinthe was recently showcased on an episode of Vh1’s, “Hollywood Exes”.  He also has participated in many benefit and charity shows including the Japanese and American Red Cross, Los Angeles Downtown Dog Rescue, Curly Tail Pug Rescue NYC, Busted Foundation, the Oceanic Awareness Collaboration, Art Hatch, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, and most recently,  XP Family Support Group.