7:42 P.M.: The Art of Chris Mars

Each of the many paintings presented in 7:42 P.M. is a visual novella about the challenges and possibilities of the human condition. It is difficult to do justice to an artist like Chris Mars whose work is so varied and prolific. Whole volumes could be written about his major themes. In reviewing the multitude of Chris Mars’s paintings we are constantly reminded of themes from centuries of European art and the extraordinary traditions of Asian Buddhist and Hindu art as well. These pages— filled with haunting portraits of beautiful women combined with skeletal forms, of crowds of wounded people surrounded by medical personnel, of dark landscapes opened up by bright tunnels of light— will hopefully give the reader a more comprehensive view into his complex, inspirational, and beautiful world. Chris Mars paints to express personal experiences that led him to confront the torments of misunderstood and unloved individuals whose presence was far outside of the “norm” of social acceptability. He is able to sympathetically and beautifully depict this sense of otherness, isolation, fear, and cruel oppression. He shows us that with care and kindness the world goes on.