Chris Uphues

American artist Chris Uphues is best known for his signature deliriously happy imagery that can be found on the streets of Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York. His work is inspired by various forms of popular culture, including Japanese animation, comic books, Keith Haring, and Walt Disney. The artist's pictorial language incorporates a range of joyful and sinister creatures. Yet, out of all his, most beloved ones are the ebullient hearts he has put on everything from farm silos to city walls. Uphues' artworks have been included in numerous group and solo exhibitions in New York, Hamburg, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Brooklyn, to name a few. As a true craftsman, he creates detailed works that garner a second look because of the fantastic and wonderful surprises.

Chris Uphues (born in 1971 in Berwyn, Illinois) graduated from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. In 2003 he received a Design Award from Print Magazine, and in 2005 the Artists Fellowship Award from Illinois Arts Council in Chicago. The artist's aesthetic possesses a peculiar balance between joyful and menacing. His signature hearts and doodles appear non-threatening thanks to their smiley faces and colorful, vibrant pallet, yet after a closer look outcomes a depth of feeling or weirdness that wasn't there at first glance. Uphues' art shines the strongest on murals where their happiness stands in sharp contrast to big metropoles' busy, grimy streets. In the mural commissioned by LOFT, which is located in Times Square, the laughing, winking, happy hearts strewn across the glass façade are juxtaposed against the hectic and dirty streets.

Chris Uphues is a serial optimist, governed by his "spread love" philosophy that he pours into all his work. Thus throughout his career, he has maintained that his art should be readily available to all and not only to those who can afford it. The welcoming aspect of his oeuvre can be best seen in his street art, which is so energetic it's infectious and impossible to ignore. Inspired by artist Keith Haring and nostalgic consumerist 1970s hearts, flowers, and smiley faces imagery, the artist creates intricately patterned ink and watercolor works on paper. Uphues said:

There is always an underlying multitude of mini-narratives visible only at a closer look. For the artist, happiness is a fundamental human right that should spread to all aspects of life.

In 2000 Uphues had his first solo exhibition titled at Bonafide Gallery in Chicago. He has had numerous shows in almost two decades, the recent being (2021) at La Luz de Jesus Gallery in Los Angeles. In a world often grim and devoid of joy, the artist has made it his mission to bring color and happiness.

Chris Uphues lives and works in Chicago.