Christopher B. Mooney
Christopher Mooney is known as a professional artist in Pacific Northwest for his urban landmarks, primarily bridges, industrial sites and working heroes, and is currently creating commissioned portraits. He creates his large-scale oils from photo references. Born and raised in Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York, surrounded by an artistic family of writers, musicians, and architects amidst the vast New York art scene.
“I enjoy hiking around the bridges of Portland, Oregon, with my camera and stepping off the sidewalks to get a different perspective of the city where the landscape is framed by its bridges. The photos I use are references for me to create original oils. I create large scale images using projections or grids, from photo references, mixing colors similar to old masters’ technique to at least match the likeness.”
Mooney has a BFA in illustration with a minor in photography from Parson’s School of Design, New York, New York. His work has been the subject of numerous group and solo exhibitions. He was a member of Portland Open Studios, Clark County Open Studios, The Rental Sales Gallery, Gallery 114, and has won several awards for his paintings. The Arts Council of Lake Oswego, OR invited Mr. Mooney to curate a group show: “Transitions”- Featured artwork by Don Bishop, Eric Boyer, Michael Orwick, and Christopher B. Mooney. The St John’s Bridge painting appeared in the residence of the Grimm, the locally produced television series. His work, Cityscape was used as the cover and poster publicizing the book, Rental Sales Gallery, Portland Art Museum, their First 50 Years, in 2009. His work has been featured in Hawthorne Bridge; Celebrating 100 Years in Art and Words, a 2010 calendar supporting the Hawthorne Bridge Centennial Celebration.
In 2014, Mooney was selected to receive a grant from the Regional Arts & Culture Council. It was a Project Grant: Tributes: Portraits of Working Heroes of the new Tilikum Crossing, the Milwaukie Light Rail Bridge. The project was to create a visual artistic record of the building of Tilikum Crossing using portraits of the working people building the bridge.
He received a Bachelor Fine Arts Degree from Parson’s School of Design. He continues to enjoy studies in portraiture and figurative workshops at Pacific Northwest Collage of Art, Portland, OR. Currently a member of the Oil Painters of America, and the International Guild of Realism.