By Brooke Biolo | International News Editor-
A dark mahogany desk decorated with the first flat screen version of an Apple desktop computer. A wireless mouse rests on a too large mouse pad that is used to draw pictures directly on the Mac. Amplifiers piled high and not one, but six guitars in all different positions around the room, their cords entwined on the ground like mating snakes. Stacks of CDs and books of all kinds occupy the room’s only shelf space. Eight posters are plastered above the desk, all the same size and all the product of different events. While this may certainly sound like the “ultimate bachelor pad”, this is the office of Christopher Abruzzi, the man behind the graphic art on many of Newport’s signs.
“I’m into cutting edge graphics, ya know what I mean” says Chris, who creates graphics for many of Newport’s businesses. Chris has done the graphics work for Midtown Oyster Bar, Diego’s, Wharf Pub, Ben’s Furniture, Helly Hansen, Music Box, Water Brothers, The Preservation Society of Newport County and Life is Good.
Chris’s self-taught web design techniques have him working on websites for local businesses including the newly updated websites of The Wharf Pub and Diego’s. He uses recognizable website creators such as Dreamweaver and WordPress than follows carefully his HTML codebook and just “plugs in the information” to create the site his way.
Chris got his start with graphics at the vocational tech school right here in Newport. His first gig at Narragansett Clothing helped him to fund continuing education at RISD, where he took Advertisement and Design night classes for the next two years. Here he had his true introduction to Apple computers, which at the time were simply unaffordable as a household computer. After his stint at RISD, Abruzzi quickly became the unofficial freelance graphic designer of Newport, sticking with some of his clients for the past 10-15 years.
While he has built himself a career through freelance graphics for Newport companies, the children’s books he had created still had his heart. Abruzzi drew up many different characters and carefully carved their storylines. After several close encounters with a potential publishers, he put the books on the back burner to let his graphic work take precedence. “I just did what I did, I didn’t want to be what they wanted me to be. I just wanted to do what I thought was funny,” says Chris of his children’s books.
But he has not abandoned his passion: Chris has something else in the works. His “Monster Head” app and website will incorporate his own music into his monster’s faces, creating an instrument out of the face that the user can then record and play back. The website will contain many of his other signature doodles to encourage children to choose a creative puzzle, mind game or even check out the “monster head news”.
Chris can be loosely considered a token Newporter in his hobbies as well. At age 62, Chris still takes the time to either surf or run every morning. Chris’s passion for music tunes in through his jam sessions with other local artists and the guitar lessons he taught until he decided he did not want to “waste time on nose pickers”.
Picking up the guitar, he played a piece with some of his pre-recorded instrumentals blaring from the piles of amps around the room. Being the “man behind the signs” is no easy feat, but in his own office space Chris Abruzzi is able to indulge his passion while still creating graphic masterpieces for Newport.
