Christian Hook

Christian Hook (born 1971) is a Gibraltarian contemporary artist.^[1]

Hook was born in Gibraltar in 1971. He studied illustration at Middlesex University in the United Kingdom, and then worked as a part-time lecturer at the Royal College of Art in London.^[1]

In 2014 he won the Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year contest with a portfolio of work completed during the competition including portraits of boxer Amir Khan and actor Sir Ian McKellen.^[2] A resulting commission was to paint a portrait of Alan Cumming for the National Galleries of Scotland.^[3] The painting was later chosen by John Leighton, director of the National Galleries of Scotland, as one of the best 100 paintings in its collection.^[4]

Hook has also painted Kristin Scott Thomas^[5]. He was awarded the Freedom of the City of Gibraltar in 2017.^[6]

In 2018, Hook released his ‘KI’ series, a collection of large-scale oil paintings inspired by his travels around Japan, focusing mainly on the ancient traditions of calligraphy and 'Chi'.^[7]

Hook was the keynote speaker at Althorp Literary Festival 2018.^[8]

Over the course of 2020 and 2021, Christian has been filming a Sky Arts documentary entitled 'Painting the Invisible'. The documentary will focus on Hook's new series of work which explores the concept of synaesthesia, and features several Nobel Prize winning scientists.^[9]

Christian Hook works as a full time artist, creating paintings “depicting motion, time and the moments that occur between events.” Christian has created paintings of celebrities, historical landmarks, and horses.^[10]