short bio
chris m rutledge is considered to be a self-taught painter and currently resides in atlanta, georgia. born on the southside of chicago and educated at tuskegee university and later southern illinois university at carbondale, christopher originally studied architecture, due to his lifelong love of drawing. he began painting in 1997 without the guidance of an art instructor. prints of these original paintings, including his first painting created in 1997 are available by request only. his paintings are primarily abstract representations of real life subjects. although he did not major in art, christopher later took a few art courses to refine his talent and to learn more about the fundamentals of painting. after taking these courses he took interest in two particular styles of painting known as ‘colorism’ due to his love of vivid colors, and ‘abstract expressionism’ due to his love of taking an object from reality and adding his own ‘twist’.
in 2000 he decided to explore another facet of art by deciding on a whim to begin writing. as a result he has written several short fiction stories and has several full length novels in the works. his uniquely styled paintings, prints, and short stories are available exclusively here at fluidpotential.com.
my philosophy on painting:
“…in the past i've struggled with my decision in college not to major in a fine arts related field. i later realized that if i didn’t have a fulltime ‘career’ as a painter or a fine arts related field, i would be allowed much more freedom to ‘create’ as i please, with total freedom to choose my own subject matter evoked from my own creative ideas. i feel i have much more creative freedom since i’m not an ‘assembly-line’ painter producing an enormous volume of work that may have compromised on quality and creativity. this approach to painting has allowed me much more creative freedom, and not feel forced to conform to someone else’s standard of beauty, aesthetic, or motivated by monetary incentives. art is something i truly enjoy and would love to share with those that appreciate true aesthetic value and nonconforming creativity....”