Combining visual simplicity from late 20th century painting with fabric collage, Chris Oliveria creates work that gives painterly attention to surface, texture and color. The works, like our societies, cities, ideals, and languages, are simultaneously built up and torn down by the addition of new layers; the present pushing out or covering up the past. The result is a formally realized picture that is a chronology of the initial idea and process, steeped in it's own history. Oliveria was born in Chico California and became homeless at age 15. Saved by the outlets of art, skateboarding and the punk scene of the early eighties, he began showing his work in nightclubs in the SF bay area. He was invited by Dan Field to participate in a group show, "The Degenerates" at World Tattoo Gallery in Chicago, leading him to pursue a life as an artist. He received his MFA from the California College of the Arts, and holds a BFA from SFAI. Selected solo and group exhibitions include LAXART, Los Angeles; Chez Valentin, Paris; Galleria Wunderk in Valencia, Spain; San Jose Museum of Art; Kavi Gupta, Chicago; Lizabeth Oliveria Gallery; Wooster Art Museum, Ohio; The Luggage Store; Yerba Buena Center for the Arts; and the Museum Of New Art, Detroit. Residencies include Headlands Center for the Arts; Creative Growth, Oakland; and Centro de Actividades Investiagiones Artisticas, Barcelona.