Originally from the UK, Chris May is a Melbourne-based visual artist working at the intersection of pop, abstraction, constructivism and graphics. His practice is divided between studio-based work and the environment.
In the studio he often uses overlooked, found, or collected materials that are removed from their original context to create compelling abstract forms. It’s a process that he finds cathartic, allowing him to compose these elements in a way that is trans-formative.
Outside of the studio he explores the fleeting, often overlooked moments that exist at the edges of our natural perception—fragments of memory and experience that emerge and disappear in an instant. Rooted in the day-to-day rhythms of the inner urban environment, these impressions—a shift in colour, a flicker of movement, or the ambiguity of form—are registered and forgotten in the same breath.
Ultimately, his work in photo-media abstraction invites viewers to engage with how we see, rather than what we see—offering a unique perceptual experience that subverts expectation and redefines the act of observation.
Since 2014, Chris May’s work has been included in numerous group exhibitions across Melbourne and has been a finalist in several art prizes including City of Melbourne Library (2018) Centre of Contemporary Photography Salon (2021) Australian Photography Awards (2022) LOOK! MAPh. Museum of Australian Photography (2023) Three of his early street photographs are held in the City of Melbourne Library Heritage Archives.