Chris Drange is best known for his large-format post-digital portraits and realist oil painting artworks. Drange is a pioneer in modern contemporary art that depicts self-identification around the mood and style of social media culture.
He specializes in court painting of modern-day influencers. His work is based on giving the digital world (photographs) a reality, by adding emojis and by painting with oil medium on canvas. His work has been featured in several exhibitions and magazines including Museum der bildende Künste Leipzig, Kunstforum International, Numéro Berlin, New York Photography Awards Exhibition, Museum für moderne Kunst, Bremen.
Drange was born in Köthen (Anhalt), Germany in 1983. He studied at the International Center of Photography in New York, at the Art Students League of New York, at the Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig and at the University of Fine Arts in Hamburg. He received a MFA in 2019 from the University of Fine Arts in Hamburg.
He lives and works in Hamburg and Berlin. Drange has published two books titled Hecho En Socialismo and Relics. He is also the recipient of Publication Grant of Materialverlag of University of Fine Arts Hamburg, and the Purple Earth Foundation Grant.