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Chris Bent

Artist


From doodling at the dinner table to mowing lawns and building companies, Chris has always had a bias toward action and a desire to create. This energy earned him an early ADHD diagnosis, but the problem really began when he got his first "corporate" job and lost all outlets for creative expression. Feeling unengaged and empty as a cog in the corporate machine, Chris began researching if creativity was an inevitable casualty of growing older (it's not) and what could be done about it (a lot). With beige cubicles as his battleground, Chris set to work building experiences to awaken the most valuable resource everyone has - their creativity. But with that initial focus, it has grown into much more. From significant public activations that capture the sentiment of citizens to intimate team learning experiences and entertaining 1,000-person keynotes to Ellen's 70th birthday party, the experiences all share a few things in common: Authentic human connection, the feeling of belonging, and it's fun!


Chris Bent is an entrepreneur who found life as an artist after being fired from a corporate sales job. A conversation connoisseur and frequent attendee of conferences and networking events, Chris had amassed thousands of business cards in his 26 years on earth. After getting the axe in June of 2016, Bent turned to his network to figure out his next steps. Digitizing and categorizing all of his business cards, he didn’t have much use for them anymore.


But he couldn’t throw them away. Each interaction, each exchange of energy and insights and stories, had transformed Bent, big or small, into the person he is today. Each card, a miniature resume representing someone's dream, their hustle, their place in the world, felt too precious to discard. So he gave them new life and began upcycling these forgotten fragments of professional identities into vibrant works of art.


The pieces explore the intersection of art and business, of capitalism and creativity, commerce and connection. When we exchange cards, we extend an invitation to connect, a hope to collaborate.


Consider all of these your cards, and don’t just appreciate the art, but interact with it and even take action - call a number you see, visit a website, and never stop following your curiosity and connecting with others.


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