Christopher Madden was born in Durham in the north of England in 1952.
After spending several years in the UK’s Scientific Civil Service working on the development stage of the Thames Barrier he left to become a professional cartoonist.
He is now concentrating on his work in other artistic fields.
He lives in London.
Exhibitions include:
Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery (2023)
Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens, Cornwall (Solo show) (2022)
Short-listed for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition (2022)
Penwith Gallery, St Ives (2020)
London Group Open, London (2019)
London Group Open, London (2017)
National Open Art Exhibition, London (2016)
Short-listed for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition (2016)
Centerprise, Kingsland High Street, London (1982 and 1985)
His cartoon work has appeared in exhibitions including:
Charing Cross Library, Charing Cross Road, London (2023)
Musée d’Orsay, Paris, in a presentation/performance by Isabella Rossellini (2021)
Oxo Tower, London (2021)
Cells Gallery, Devonport Guildhall,Plymouth (2018)
Westminster Reference Library, Westminster, London (2018)
Cells Gallery, Devonport Guildhall,Plymouth (2018)
Charing Cross Library, Charing Cross Road, London (2018)
Bear Steps Gallery, Shrewsbury (2018)
Westminster Reference Library, Westminster, London (2017)
William Heath Robinson Museum, Pinner, London (2017)
Chris Beetles Gallery, London (2016)
Cartoon Museum, London (2015)
Cobb Gallery, London (2014)
Richard Goodall Gallery, Manchester (2013)
Bear Steps Gallery, Shrewsbury (2013)
Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester (2008)
Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery (2008)
Bear Steps Gallery, Shrewsbury (2008)
Cartoon Museum, London (2006)
Association of Illustrators annual exhibition, London (1986 and 1987)
His work is informed by a keen interest in environmental issues, philosophy and science.
His interest in the environment, which started in his teens in the late 1960s, resulted in a book of his cartoons on the subject, When Humans Roamed the Earth, being published by WWF (the World Wildlife Fund) in 1991, and another book, The Beast That Ate The Earth, being published in 1996.
His work as a cartoonist and illustrator featured regularly in the Guardian newspaper in the 1980s and 1990s and in BBC science magazines in the 2000s. He was the resident cartoonist in Philosophy Now magazine for many years from the early 1990s at the same time as being a regular contributor to the journal of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
His work appears in numerous educational and academic publications by publishers such as Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Open University Press, Nature and more.
His work has appeared in magazines and newspapers such as Punch, Private Eye, Prospect, the Spectator, the Critic, New Statesman and Daily Telegraph.
He contributed a weekly cartoon on gardening to the Irish Sunday Independent newspaper for over twenty years.
Some of his cartoon work is in the permanent collection of the Cartoon Museum, London
A selection of his cartoon work can be seen here.
