Chris Leib

About

Chris Leib is an American fine artist from the San Francisco Bay Area, renowned for his paintings featuring bonobo chimps, astronauts, and cosmonauts, often juxtaposed to explore themes of heroism, human endeavor, evolution, science-fiction, reality, and religion. He began his education in anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley, influenced by a childhood encounter with a caged bonobo that sparked his interest in apes and evolutionary themes. After considering careers in law and real estate, and working odd jobs like furniture delivery, he pursued art by taking classes at the Academy of Art in San Francisco and apprenticing with Roberto Lupetti to learn old master techniques.

Realist with surreal and pop surrealism elements, reconstructing culturally significant forms