Artwork copyright Chris Watts. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2021.

Artwork copyright Chris Watts. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2021.

Artwork copyright Chris Watts. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission.

Untitled, 1990

Chris Watts
(British, born 1947)

Location: Amistad Elementary, Kennewick

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

This artwork is part of artist Chris Watts' series 'The Intertwined Formation of Four Spirals.' The series features visual puzzles made up of both random and controlled elements. Each piece investigates different numeric, spatial, and color relationships. He organized the spiral compositions on a 15 by 15 inch grid.

Chris Watts created this series for Multiples: The Sciences and Art (1991), an exhibition of ten microcollections commissioned to tour Washington State school districts. The microcollections offer different perspectives of ten artists exploring ideas and issues related to science, and ask students to re-consider assumed and widely accepted aspects of science.

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with Multiples: The Sciences and Art Collection.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Artist Chris Watts’ work explores patterns and systems. He often uses numbers, grids, and spiral, diagonal, and horizontal forms. Viewers are drawn to interpreting and unraveling the system – trying to figure them out like a puzzle. Watts is interested in and influenced by Bronze Age stone monuments, spirals and mazes, Pythagoras, counting processes, scientific structures, bell ringing, theosophy, sound, and the geometrical tradition in art. He notes, “the final question for me has always been 'Am I the originator of the visual structure being discovered or am I just uncovering what already existed?'"

Watts earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts (1969) from Goldsmith’s College School of Art in London, England, and a Master of Fine Arts (1971) from Ohio University. He taught art at several colleges in England before moving back to the U.S. to be the Chair of the Art Department at Cornish College of Art (1978-1984) in Seattle. He taught painting and drawing at Washington State University in Pullman, Eastern Washington, for 27 years (1988-2015).