WINNER
Retail Art Gallery of the Year
Chris DeRubeis
Born in 1978, it wasn't long before Chris DeRubeis showed a very early proclivity for drawing. This talent was nurtured to the fullest by his family, and at the age of 11 his grandfather gave Chris his first airbrush. After watching Chris use his airbrush for the very first time, his grandfather proclaimed that Chris was to become the artist his Grandfather always wanted him to be and would inevitably share his talents on the world's grand stage.
In 2005 DeRubeis' work was submitted and honoured with two nominations by the First Annual Fine Art Awards televised live from the MGM Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, NV. Nominated in the "Mixed Media" and "New Movement" categories, he earned the "MUSE" Award in "New Movement" and is now known as "The Father of the Conceptual Movement".
A critical aspect of DeRubeis’ Abstract Sensualism® is his medium of choice: metal. His technique involves painting and manipulating its surface with a mixture of chemicals, power tools, and other techniques.
The metal panels he uses range from aircraft aluminum to precious metals like silver, gold, brass, and copper. As part of the process, DeRubeis subjects his metal to flash freezing and intense fire. DeRubeis says this technique creates textures that resemble stone or marble, something he couldn’t reproduce unless exposing the metal to extreme elements.