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Christopher Anderson
Approximate Joy
Christopher Anderson

Christopher Anderson. Approximate Joy #19
“In 2017, I was invited to Shenzhen, China by a contemporary art organization to make a work about the metropolis that some 30 years ago was a humble fishing village, and now is one of the worldâs largest and most modern cities.
I arrived and admittedly did not know what I could possibly have to say about this place. What authority did I have to make a comment about China? Western observations about how things are similar or dissimilar to my world seemed trite at best. And besides, everything is now the same. In many aspects, these new modern cities are like duty free shops in any airport: the same luxury stores, the same Nikes, the same rap music, etc etc.
I found myself struck by the simple pleasure of intensely observing people. I wanted to remove all context and sense of place and just SEE. The resulting images are studies of an urban population. They could be made in New York or Berlin or anywhere. It just so happens they are made in China. I thought of this way of working as more akin to portrait painting as any work I have made.”
— Christopher Anderson
Selected Works
Christopher Anderson
Approximate Joy #1, 2017
1 ETH
Christopher Anderson
Approximate Joy #10, 2017
1 ETH
Christopher Anderson
Approximate Joy #11, 2017
1 ETH
Christopher Anderson
Approximate Joy #13, 2017
1 ETH
Christopher Anderson
Approximate Joy #14, 2017
1 ETH
Christopher Anderson
Approximate Joy #15, 2017
1 ETH
Full Collection
Artist
Christopher Anderson
1970 (Canada)
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Website_
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Christopher Anderson is known for his emotionally charged, artfully drawn images that explore themes of truth and subjectivity. He is one of todayâs most influential photographers, whose origins began in war reporting and later transformed into something more intimate, blending the worlds of commercial, art and fashion work, but always with a foundation in documentary.
Anderson was born in Canada and grew up in west Texas. His photographic career began working for local newspapers. In 2000, on assignment for the New York Times Magazine, he boarded a small wooden boat with 44 Haitians trying to sail to America. The boat sank in the Caribbean. The photographs received the Robert Capa Gold Medal and marked the beginning of a ten-year period as a contract photographer for Newsweek Magazine and National Geographic Magazine. In 2011 he became New York Magazineâs first ever Photographer in Residence; a notable collaboration that would also mark Andersonâs shift into portraiture and fashion, making images of significant figures including Barack Obama, Spike Lee and Debby Harry.
In 2008, after the birth of his first child, Anderson moved further away from journalistic magazine work to subjects more immediate to his personal experience. In 2012, his book, SON, was published, defining a visual direction that has come characterize to his work. Other projects created within this intensely intimate approach include Capitolio, Stump and Approximate JOY.
Press + Articles
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01
Snapshot: âApproximate Joyâ by Christopher Anderson
Financial Times (article)
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02
The Anxious, Hopeful Faces of Young People in Shenzhen, China
The New Yorker (article)
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03
Approximate Joy: Christopher Andersonâs ethereal portraits of contemporary China
Creative Boom (article)