Artist Bio

A native Texan, Chris Hunt has been demonstrating raw artistic talent from a very young age through sketches and drawings of anything that caught his eye. Raised by a single father, who was a hard working carpenter that didn't have much time for art appreciation, Chris's artistic talents were recognized for nothing more than a hobby and was never encouraged to pursue it further. He continued to draw and even taught himself how to play guitar and write country songs while pursuing other activities that interested him. Sports became his passion, playing everything from soccer to racing bikes on the national circuit. He even found time to ride saddle bronc and bareback horses on the local Texas Rodeo Circuit.

Chris joined the Air Force in 1993 and found himself stationed in Spangdahlem, Germany, which was only three hours from Paris and the Louvre Museum. Being from a small Texas town, Chris had never heard of the Louvre and the only thing he knew about Paris was the Eiffel Tower, so he didn't know what was in store when he and a few buddies decided to go and check it out one weekend. Needless to say, he saw the Eiffel tower, but when he paid his entry into the Louvre, the artwork he saw was more than he could have ever imagined. His experience in Europe and the Masterpieces that filled the Louvre and Rodin's museum left an impression on Chris that made him dream of artistic achievement.

After the Air Force, Chris returned home to find that there wasn't much work in the small town he left, so he headed off to Houston. While working various jobs, he went back to college, but found that the art he saw in Europe didn't exist in the classroom, so he decided to get a degree in Political Science and hone his artistic skills on his own.

While trying out all forms of media, it became clear that sculpture was his passion, so he bought as much clay as possible and hung out with every sculptor he could meet. While doing this he also heard about the Houston Museum of Fine Art, so he headed off to find some inspiration and what he found was Frederic Remington.

All those years of breaking colts, riding bucking horses and his passion for art culminated when he saw Frederic Remington's bronze sculptures and paintings of the American cowboy and Indian. It was then and there he knew that he wanted to be a Cowboy Artist. It became clear though that he couldn't just up and decide to make a living sculpting western bronzes, so since he knew that he could do a portrait of anyone in bronze, he set out trying to find work.

Chris's reputation as a gifted young sculptor quickly spread by word of mouth and has subsequently been contracted by several families to do bronze portraits, contracted to do a life size bust of the CEO of a NYSE energy company in Houston and was also contracted by a major Wall Street Investment Banking Firm to do an original bronze piece as a memento for a financing completed for the Firm's client. The Firm presented its client with two of Chris's bronze scale model helicopters and fifty replica reliefs for its bankers, lawyers and accountants on the transaction team.

To stay close to his passion for the west, Chris is still working on ranches, breaking colts, training horses and gathering cattle while working on commissions and his western art collection. He is currently working on several private family portrait commissions, monumental proposals and western bronzes for upcoming shows.