Steven Charles “Things That Fell Out of My Pocket”
The Active Space
This event has ended.
Differing from his well known visual style, these works consist of a diversity of materials that span synthetic fur, pom poms, corks, food, knives, glitter, and seemingly endless layers of paint. Each piece, regardless of its material or visual content, pushes absurdity - either by way of its obsessive process or simplicity. “Abstract painting is the most confusing dilemma I have ever encountered,” says Charles. Yet he has always been interested in creating problems; being surprised and confused by the events that unfold while making something are what motivate his dedicated painting practice. In more recent years, he has explored this same interest with materials other than paint, and continues to surprise himself, now with works as unexpected and uncharacteristically Charles as cork paintings, outsider-looking works featuring sunflowers and text, and black and white geometric paintings.
Yet the complexity and level of detail, made obvious in his small works on found wood, exhibit his unique and characteristic process aptly dubbed “targeting” by the artist. In his own words, “This is where a shape is filled in with a smaller shape leaving only the outer edge of the first shape showing. This process is repeated until the amount of shape being covered is reduced to the smallest part possible with the selected brush. Each painting begins to generate a logic unique to it’s own composition. Even though it’s obvious that I am making these paintings, the end results always educates me on what I’m doing. The impetus for this work is my optimism, although what I am optimistic about constantly escapes me.” These works evoke much of his previous, highly labor-intensive works, which at their longest reached 18 feet.
Charles has been an extraordinarily dedicated painter navigating the New York art world since 1996. He was born in 1967 in Birkenhead, England, and received his BFA from the University of Texas and a MFA from Temple University . He has exhibited widely in notable locations such as Marlborough Chelsea (NYC), Marlborough Madrid (Spain), Pierogi (Brooklyn), The Brooklyn Museum, and Galerie Zürcher (Paris), among others. He has received Pollock-Krasner and NYFA grants, and has been living and working in Bushwick, Brooklyn since 2010.
Media
Schedule
from May 31, 2013 to June 30, 2013
Opening Reception on 2013-05-31 from 19:00 to 21:00