. CHRISTOPHER ROCHE - ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Christopher Roche is an Arizona based artist known for his large scale acrylic on canvas paintings of historic neon signs, Americana, and local landmarks throughout the West. His brilliant paintings utilizing bold color have a familiarity about them, they are places we know or remember. Roche brings all of his subjects to life through his striking paintings.
A native of San Mateo, California in the San Francisco Bay Area, Roche grew up in a family of seven children and had art in his blood from an early age. After graduating high school he attended the College of San Mateo, where he was fortunate to study art under Joe Price, a master serigraph artist in his own right, and the most passionate and intense instructor he had ever encountered.The fire lit by Price led Roche to Southern California to study art at California State University Long Beach. It was here in where Roche continued to develop his drawing skills, and use of color under the keen eye, and tutelage of the highly respected instructor and artist Dick Oden.
Staying in Long Beach after graduation Roche began to paint feverishly and started to find his way as an artist. He became a three time Public Corporation of the Arts grant recipient in the City of Long Beach, where he conducted art workshops with at risk youth, and set up local exhibitions of his own work. Roche soon began to exhibit and sell his work in galleries, including solo shows, and numerous juried exhibitions in the surrounding cities of Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, and Laguna Beach. Over the next decade Roche's work found its way into hundreds of private and corporate collections throughout California and Arizona.
In the year 2000 Roche moved to Arizona with his wife and son. No longer was his focus on his art, but on his family. His passion and energy turned to education, where he earned his teaching certificate and began working in education. He received his Master's Degree in Elementary Education from Northern Arizona University in 2007. "I have always enjoyed working with kids and making an impact on their lives, my background and passion for art has helped me tremendously in my teaching career", says Roche. Although his art became much more sporadic during this time, Roche never lost the need to create.
In 2014 with his son off to college Roche rededicated himself to his art and soon left teaching to pursue his passion full time.. Sketching scenes around town on location, he soon found himself back in the studio in Mesa, AZ creating a new body of work. Making up for lost time, and working with a sense of purpose and urgency, Roche began exhibiting his work in numerous regional and national exhibitions. Roche's paintings of Arizona State University football have found a loyal following with Sun Devil fans. His recent series of large, brilliantly colored canvases, featuring historic neon signs, and local landmarks throughout Arizona & the West have found a very receptive and passionate audience of collectors. Roche's original paintings and limited edition prints are in corporate and private collections across the United States. He is currently exhibiting in highly competitive juried art festival shows throughout Arizona, and other Western States as well as showing his work through {9}The Gallery, and FoundRE Contemporary in downtown Phoenix.