Whether icing monochrome layers of paint on to recycled LPs or layer upon layer of slices of color to canvas, Christian Vassell is mainly a stunning abstractionist.
Vassell is also an avid reader and researcher, constantly studying books and pamphlet. He sometimes adds the texts of his reading to a drawing to create an graphic encyclopedia of sorts.
// Christian’s available work //
recent exhibition history
What a Wonderful World! // An Exhibition in the Office Suite of Mayor Eduardo Martinez // NIAD Online Exhibition // February 2023
Larger Than Life: S/Heroes, GOATs, and Other Legends organized by Zoya Kocur // NIAD Online Exhibition // February 2023
Art of the African Diaspora 2023 by Richmond Art center// January – March 2023
Subtle Sweetness organized by Jamie Walsh // NIAD Online Exhibition // January 2023
NIAD is for music lovers organized by Xiomara Rosales // NIAD Online Exhibition // December 2022
NIAD Ink: 35 Years of Prints organized by Andrés Cisneros-Galindo // NIAD Online Exhibition // December 2022
NIAD Holiday Gift Guide #1: NIAD is for Animal Lovers ,organized by Dorian Reid // Online Exhibition // November 2022
What’s Cookin’?! ,organized by Terri Moore // NIAD Gallery Exhibition // November 2022
I Wanna See All My Friends At Once, organized by Cone Shape Top // NIAD Online Exhibition // August 2022
Feeling Language, organized by Kate Laster // NIAD Gallery Exhibition // October 2022
A New Geometry, organized by e bond // NIAD Online Exhibition // July 2022
Color as Energy Field, organized by Chinzalée Sonami // NIAD Online Exhibition // June 2022
Creature Comfort, organized by Sydney Pfaff // NIAD Online Exhibition // April 2022
Superbloom, organized by Erin McCluskey Wheeler // NIAD Gallery Exhibition // April 2022
WIN WIN 10 Silent Auction Preview Exhibition // NIAD Gallery Exhibition // February 2022
Menagerie on 23rd Street, organized by Prajakti Jayavant // NIAD Windows Exhibition // December 2021
Innersense, ushered by Germán Herrera // NIAD Online Exhibition // January 2022
Stories, organized by B. Wurtz // NIAD Online Exhibition // November 2021
A Firmament in the Midst of the Waters, organized by Jay Youngdahl // NIAD Online Exhibition // October 2021
Mini Mural Gallery // SFMOMA // August 2021
Yielding, organized by Ann Marguerite Tartsinis // NIAD Online Exhibition // August 2021
177 Years, organized by Julia Goodman and Michael Hall // NIAD Online Exhibition // August 2021
20 Continuous Lines, organized by Veronica De Jesus // NIAD Online Exhibition // August 2021
Every Sing, organized by Jesse Malmed // NIAD Online Exhibition // July 2021
Diverse Findings, organized by Paulette Nichols // NIAD Online Exhibition // July 2021
Purple Barbara, organized by Richard Zimmerman // NIAD Online Exhibition // May 2021
Forest of Fantasy, organized by Bessie Kunath // NIAD Online Exhibition // April 2021
Warming, organized by Good Buy Supply // NIAD Online Exhibition // April 2021
Costume Store, organized by Ari Banias // NIAD Online Exhibition // March 2021
Artist of the Month Series: We Are Creating Our History, organized by Deatra Colbert, Felicia Griffin and Dorrie Reid // NIAD Online Exhibition // February 2021
SPEED, organized by Patrick Reed // NIAD Online Exhibition // January 2021
Faces in the Crowd, organized by Elizabeth Lalley // NIAD Online Exhibition // December 2020
PODS, organized by sam ho // NIAD Online Exhibition // October 2020
Be Heard. Speak Up., organized by Fenwick & West // NIAD Online Exhibition // October 2020
Watch TV With Me, organized by Zach Ozma // NIAD Online Exhibition // September 2020
Let’s Do The Time Warp Again, organized by Boyang Hou // NIAD Online Exhibition // September 2020
Charged Particles, organized by Kate Conlon // NIAD Online Exhibition // August 2020
Hands Up, Don’t Shoot! (The Fed Up/Can’t Take It Anymore Remix), organized by Jennifer McCoy // NIAD Online Exhibition // June 2020
Nowhere Anywhere But Here, organized by Scott MacLeod // NIAD Online Exhibition // April 2020
Night Vision, organized by Christina Linden // NIAD Online Exhibition // March 2020
RE:imagining DIS:place, organized by Michelle N. Jones // NIAD Online Exhibition // March 2020
Two of Swords, organized by Shelli Quintos // NIAD Online Exhibition // February 2020
Everything You See is Me, organized by Kristy Luck // NIAD Online Exhibition // February 2020
Contrast, organized by Molly Joyce // NIAD Online Exhibition // February 2020
Word Soup, organized by Kelly Lloyd // NIAD Online Exhibition // January 2020
Ends, organized by Matthew Weston Taylor // NIAD Online Exhibition // December 2019
Glaze Words, organized by Lisa Rybovich // NIAD Online Exhibition // October 2019
A Kind of Movement // organized by Jay Wehnert Portland Art And Learning Studios 2019
Ether Here Nor There: Anthony Grant x NIAD // NIAD Art Center 2019
Hailing From Parts Unknown // organized By Curtis Turner NIAD Art Center 2019
Record Revival: Christian Vassell // NIAD Art Center 2019
Exquisite Corpse: CG x CE x NIAD // NIAD Art Center November 2018
The Genre Leaps // organized by Margaret Tedesco NIAD Art Center 2018
Christian Vassell // NIAD Art Center 2018
Cyrano // organized By Em Kettner NIAD Art Center 2018
Can Did // organized By Julio Rodriguez NIAD Art Center 2018
Indeterminate Space // organized by Anthony Piñata NIAD Art Center 2018
Affinity // organized by Tim Buckwalter Museum of Northern California Art Chico 2017
The Fourth Dimension, organized by Marja Galpin van der Loo // NIAD Art Center 2017
Shapeshifting Superheavies // organized by Jessica Snow NIAD Art Center 2017
Creature Feature // organized by John Casey NIAD Art Center 2017
Party Animals! // organized by Katie Johnson NIAD Art Center 2016
Abstract Preferences // organized by Anthony Pinata NIAD Art Center 2016
Color + Mark = Christian Vassell // NIAD Art Center 2015
DIS/PLAY // SOMArts Gallery San Francisco 2015
Assemble: A NIAD Art Center Project With Nina Zurier // organized by Nina Zurier NIAD Art Center 2015
City In Motion // NIAD Art Center 2014
Hand To Hand: The Emerging Artists Of UCPLA And NIAD Art Center // organized by Anuradha Vikhram Washington Reid Gallery, Culver City; NIAD Art Center 2014
Championship Vinyl // NIAD Art Center 2013
Publications
100 Stories of Belonging in the S.F. Bay Area, edited by Christine Wong Yap, 2019.