Chris Higson creates in an obsessive way, starting with a subject of interest that sparks his imagination at that time and through research and development he begins to create a world in his studio of artworks spanning a range of mediums. This results in each series of works feeling like highly personal chapters in a study book, often informed by his strong interests in history, traditions, lived experiences and food. Visually his work is heavily inspired by a life spent around the textures and colours of urban and rural environments as well as his travels of Mexico, with decay, texture, colour and layering at the forefront.
THE WORK: ‘Zancudos/ Mosquitos’
This series of works are inspired by ‘Zancudo’ dancers from Zaachila in Oaxaca, Mexico.
Zancudo translates as mosquito or long legged and these traditional dancers aptly move around on long hand-crafted wooden stilts, it is said these were historically used by the community of Zaachila to navigate the surrounding terrain of numerous rivers and gullies.
This series pulls upon Chris’s own experiences observing this dance, his subsequent research and dissection of the tradition and the resulting work focuses on aspects that visually inspired him. Combining sculpture and paintings together for the first time beyond his own studio, conveying the perspectives of watching the Zancudos perform.
