Chris Coward

 

Chris Coward was born in 1990 in England. He began drawing at the age of  twenty from a council estate in the West Midlands and moved to London in 2016. After completing his studies in Fine Art Painting at Camberwell University  He continues developing his practice at his studio in South London. His main chosen medium of drawing is graphite, also writes stories that reflect and describe his universe. Chris is part of the international artist group known as Caneyo and has been an active member of this community since 2019.

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"It’s becoming a common occurrence now, to hide the mirror; to place it down back facing into the room in order to avoid these little moments. Between the wide-basin sink and the radiator affixed to the north wall, never quite out of sight, peripheral reminders of unmanageable shortcomings framed in deep oak. The hiding of the mirror takes places two-to-three times a month, ritualised, once again depending on a volatile inclination that can be set off by the most innocuous of things. A familiar warm blood rush, somewhere between the spectrum of fear and rage in favour of the latter: Starting with the cheeks the heat swells and infects the chest like a balloon at capacity facing combustion, turning inward instead of out in perfect timing with the palms surface veneered with sweat and drawn into excruciating examination, the same examination that lead him here with taunting intrigue, the cerebral tug-of-war has been lost and oh it is a war indeed against his will he must keep fighting, perhaps in hopes to render previous conclusions inexact, to disprove preceding theory in which being wrong just once could save him, but it couldn’t. Not this time and not any time. Short breaths and pale knuckled he scans the room for something to pull his attention: sock half way hanging out the basket, tuck the curtain behind the coleus, text from Nan I ought to reply to, all in futility. The warmth remains". 

 

 Extract from Stories by Chris Coward.