Background

Christopher Moon is a Yorkshire-born, London based artist, working as a printmaker, photographer and creative director in toys. His creative career has been a varied one, from working at and documenting a maggot farm, to winning a “Boys Toy of the Year” award for his highly commercially successful Robot Wars Toy range.

Moon’s primary artistic focus is intaglio printmaking. His love of drawing and storytelling informs the composition and subjects of his practice. Elements of play, nostalgia, and the work ethic of his upbringing is evident in each piece.

Recurring motifs such as Action Man and dirty flies interact unexpectedly. Sitting somewhere between the joy of play and the pain of everyday life, Moon’s work combines these elements to bring an undercurrent of foreboding to otherwise unassuming characters.

Originally from Pontefract, Moon discovered the excitement of drawing at an early age gaining praise from teachers at Love Lane Junior school. He would sit for hours drawing his cricket heroes Ian Botham and David Gower from well-thumbed Wisden magazines and digging out plants from the playground (weeding) and drawing them under the care and mentorship of Mr Dale.

Encouraged by teachers and parents Moon studied Art Foundation at Wakefield District College and Product Design at Sheffield Hallam University. He travelled widely, scraping a living as a photographer, documenting American Summer Camps and even Elvis costumes at Graceland, Memphis Tennessee, before landing his dream role as a toy designer at Lego. Since then, Moon has won major awards in the field of global toy design while leading numerous design and IP creation teams.

After a chance encounter with Lucien Freud’s etchings in a gallery in New York, Moon studied printmaking at evening class at Central St. Martins in London. He continues his practice at the renowned Artichoke Print Workshop in Brixton.

Moon is always experimenting with his print practise, pushing different techniques such as spit-bite and carborundum, and also moving into the realm of cyanotype printing.

Moon has exhibited internationally and won several awards for his etchings. Highlights include the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy, where his most recent inclusion was selected by Grayson Perry. The Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers (RE) at Bankside Gallery and the Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair.