User:Roarman123/sandbox

Chicago Native and Brooklyn based sculpture artist Christophe Roberts’ work is known for escaping the confines of just one medium. Roberts, already a painter traversing various creative spaces, changed the art game by conceiving sculptures made out of Nike shoe boxes from his own shoe collection. Thus marrying Christophe Roberts, the artist, with his passion for sneakers, spawning a new echelon of upcycle art making to his already compelling career. As a material innovator, being the first artist to create sculptures using corrugated fiberboard, or shoe boxes, his work is a mainstay in galleries and a variety of groundbreaking creative collaborations including, Kobe Bryant, Wu-Tang, Michelle Obama and Nike. The larger than life sculptures all begin with a story in mind. An origin that rings true to Roberts. Always with compassion for the creatures that are being conceptualized, the work is finessed by hand and crafted with materials such as leather, shoeboxes, 3D or found materials from around the world. When the works are installed they become a mosaic of awe-inducing pieces that grip and confront you all while embodying Roberts’ creative rebellion. Roberts credits his extensive knowledge of art and technology to his early days of being a rebel artist in Chicago and his rigorous training in illustration at Cornish College in Seattle. There his work grew larger and transgressed the status quo espousing his familiar freestyle approach to a fine-tuned creative approach. Although Roberts’ work alludes to many influences, from Junkanoo masks, a cultural celebration rooted in The Bahamas, to the canonical works of artists like Jacob Lawrence and Todd McFarlane. Without a doubt, producing work that is true to his own story has allowed Christophe, and an amalgamation of his creative passions, and personal narrative, to demonstrate how his own creative resonance continues to defy gravity and transcends boundaries across the spectrum of art.

The geopolitical and environmental tones are apparent in Roberts’ work. As resources become more scarce worldwide, reusing and upcycling materials, in often overlooked urban spaces, is an imperative part of Roberts’ creative process.