Chris Hodges, an American artist, was born in Hickory, North Carolina on 25 December 1963.  He studied art and music at Berry College in Rome, Georgia before completing his MFA in Visual Arts (Drawing, Painting, and Printmaking) at Parson's School of Art and Design in New York.

A retired art educator, Hodges taught drawing, ceramics, and painting at a public high school for over 21 years.  Now retired he is a full-time artist, still teaching privately in Rome, Georgia where he lives with his three children: Jackson, Julia, and Alex.

"I just want to make something that someone will want to look at more than once." - Chris Hodges

His works exhibit the influence of several Post-War figurative painters including Chuck Close, Willem de Kooning, Francis Bacon, Francesco Clemente, and Raphael Soyer, but also shows his admiration and understanding of art’s great colorito masters: Rembrandt, van Gogh, and Chaïm Soutine. Despite his attention to these expressive, abstract, and gestural strokes, his work does not neglect the delicate precision of the careful-handed draughtsmanship of the academic greats: Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, William-Adolphe Bouguereau, and Jan Vermeer.

The influence of the singular figure is central to Hodges’ work, seldom breaking the existential moment between viewer and subject. Music also plays an indispensable role in the process and composition of his works. Frequently conceived and executed under the influence of jazz, Hodges works freely to the rhythmic and forceful variance of John Coltrane, Miles Davis, and Charlie Parker among others.

Born with a spinal condition, this situation deteriorated in late 2010 limiting his mobility and hand control, causing severe pain, and requiring the use of a wheelchair. Since this time, the work of Chuck Close has become very important to Hodges as it inspires hope that he can continue to produce consequential expressions. These works have not been about the disability, but certainly have elevated the sense of urgency already present in his work.