Chris & Steve Rocks

Go on. Just how many twins can you name? Famous ones that is. In movie land there’s the Gyllenhaal siblings, Jake and Maggie and the Olsens, Mary-Jo and Kate-Beth or whatever they’re called. There have been a few in international football circles too down the years, usually German. And then there’s those celebs whose identical brothers or sisters aren’t both in the public glare of the cameras, and therefore who we didn’t knew existed. The likes of Paul Sinclair (Vin Diesel’s twin), Hunter Johansson (Scarlett’s twin bro) and Rachel Sutherland (Kiefer’s twin sis) for example. But they’re not what you might call commonplace. Which makes it all the more surprising that there’s a unique (and uniquely talented) two-for-one deal in our very own contemporary art world which some of you might not be aware of.

Chris and Steve Rocks, or the Rocks Brothers as they are more often known these days, are not only siblings as their collective title/name implies, but twins to boot. Born within seven minutes of one another, Chris and Steve Rocks are something of a phenomenon in the contemporary abstract landscape field. What makes their bio/story even more fascinating is the fact that they are not just individual artists from the same family forging a living from their art, yet a combined unit, a joint tour de force if you like who originate and present an unconventional, yet sublime united art front. The Rocks work in a fashion that to most would seem unthinkable, literally, or more, graphically, working side by side on the same composition. That’s right. Every single canvas the Rocks craft represent a full and equal collaboration.

Suffice to say both brothers have always been incredibly close and in tune with one another from birth, and once they both opted to study art soon discovered that their styles and directions were uncannily similar in illustrative values and presentation standards. At school they studied a range of artistic disciplines, which they followed up with foundation and university level courses thereafter. The subject matter they both covered during their artistic education as such included fine art, ceramics, design, interior design, life drawing, metal sculpture, 3D design, fashion design and photography. To every witness the images that the brothers were manifesting individually appeared to have essentially come from the same place. It’s not unheard of for twins to share a talent in a particular arena, creative or otherwise, however that their visual interpretation and inspiration be so attuned to the other is viewed as being simply remarkable.

Keen to see just where their joint visions would take them, the Rocks arrived at the decision to harness their combined artistic energies and creativity and produce paintings together, on the one shared canvas, at first providing nothing more than an experiment. But the experiment proved beyond any doubt that both siblings could almost second guess each other’s ideas and design concepts when faced with the same blank canvas and starting point, and that rather than cramping or suffocating the other’s style found that they actually could work alongside each other; physically and emotionally. As well as being an amazing experience, it was a liberating one for both brothers, and ever since embarking on this joint venture they have generated a copious amount of interest. But more than that they’ve managed to have staged hugely successful exhibitions in a selection of prestigious venues and galleries the length and breadth of the UK.

Despite their unbridled passion for fine art, it wasn’t until they first began to showcase their work in the North of England at first, that they even fully appreciated their own potential. But this changed almost overnight as the Rocks were soon selling to private buyers across the land, in addition to creating column inches wherever they travelled, including generating several TV appearances and featuring heavily in a range of regional media.

In terms of the Rocks’ defining creative work, and the genre in which they’ve strived to make their own, and as we mentioned at the top, abstract landscapes is effectively where it’s always been at for the twins. Inspired and perpetually influenced by nature’s finest environs, the Rocks habitually explore the effect that light has on land, sky and water, as they aim to capture a moment in time in their dramatic compositions. Their express intention form the outset is to ensure that the viewer is fully aware of the sense of constant change, reflected in art as it is played out in life itself. The passion and intensity of each piece graphically echoes both their individual artistic aims and their personal journey through life. Sometimes difficult, often fascinating, but never dull, that’s for sure.