Biography:
I am a filmmaker and photographer currently studying at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Before moving to Chicago, I studied photography at Santa Monica College where my work was placed in juried exhibitions back in 2017 and 2018. My photo series, The Godless Photograph, was exhibited in my last year in California. In 2020, my photography was shown in the online exhibition "Don't Joke About That".
While completing my studies and shooting, I have worked as a freelance photographer and videographer, darkroom technician, gallery assistant, and I currently work in the SAIC media centers as a shift lead as well as a teaching assistant.
While completing my studies and shooting, I have worked as a freelance photographer and videographer, darkroom technician, gallery assistant, and I currently work in the SAIC media centers as a shift lead as well as a teaching assistant.
In the past few years, my work has shifted from photography to filmmaking as a means to add layers to the narratives I found emerging from my still photos. My first short film, Hunger, premiered in the Cherry Knot exhibition titled "What If We?" in February 2023.
Since then, Hunger has won best silent film program at the Pan Eros Film Festival (2023) as well as being nominated for best editing at the Cinema Soup Film Festival (2023) and best actor at the Europa Film Festival (2024). Hunger was also selected for the Chicago Underground Film Festival (2023), San Fransisco Porn Film Festival (2024), Flat Earth Film Festival (2024), and received an honorable mention from the Experimental Forum (2023).
Regarding more gallery exhibitions, Hunger participated in the "Maybe Fake's What I Like" online exhibition in October 2023 as well as the "Processing..." exhibition that ran in Chicago art gallery, Space.01, from September to October 2024.
My second short film, Annihilation, premiered in a 16mm film screening at Chicago's DIY art space, No Nation, in March of 2024. The film theatrically debuted at the 31st Chicago Underground Film Festival in September 2024.
Artist Statement:
I utilize experimental concepts to explore dark psychological facets that coincide with romantic and sexual desires. Common themes that are discussed in my work are; romantic yearning, emotional torment, social isolation, and sexual frustration. I relay this through visually striking imagery that employs elements of melancholic homoeroticism and psychosexual surrealism. My work is deeply intimate, capturing the pained ecstasy of raw vulnerability. It is only through this vulnerability can we begin to examine the darkest corners of our individual psyches and collective desires.
You can contact me by emailing me at "chrisqnoon@gmail.com", or messaging me through my instagram, @meatsound.