Education
1995-97
Master of Fine Arts in studio arts, University of Georgia.
Professional study in art, Cortona, Italy, 1996.
Graduate Report: “Why It Is Almost Not Important.”
1989-93
Bachelor of Arts, cum laude in art, Wake Forest University.
Study in lithography, Rhode Island School of Design, 1993.
Study abroad, Worrell House of Wake Forest University, London, England, 1992
One Person Exhibitions
2008
CTE, Charlotte, NC. “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.”
2007
CTE, Charlotte, NC. “Polychromatic Contemplations.”
2005
Tessera Gallery, Winston-Salem, NC.
Patina, Winston-Salem, NC.
Summit, Winston-Salem, NC. “10 Paintings for a Library Part 2”
2004
Firefly Gallery, “The Washington Park Paintings,” Raleigh, NC.
Realis Gallery of Fine Art, “Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School,” Winston-Salem, NC.
Realis Gallery of Fine Art “Push/Pull,” Winston-Salem, NC.
Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County, Winston-Salem, NC. “18 Paintings.”
Summit, Winston-Salem, NC. “10 Paintings for a Library.”
2003
Realis Gallery of Fine Art, Winston-Salem, NC.
Chelsee’s, Winston-Salem, NC. “8 Paintings.”
Ollie’s, Winston-Salem, NC.
2001
Show, Los Angeles, CA. “Paintings for Three Scandinavian Living Rooms.”
The Table, Los Angeles, CA. “The Last Painting Show.”
1999
Rm 107, Pasadena, CA. “Double Agents.”
Blagg’s, Los Angeles, CA. “Flags For Undiscovered Countries.”
Wake Forest University Gallery of Fine Art, Winston-Salem, NC. “Kings They Hang.”
1996
Suil Studios, Athens, GA. “Paintings From The Institution.”
Lamar Dodd Gallery, Athens, GA. “Six Paintings – Finding Ground Zero.”
1995
Davidson College, Davidson, NC. “Personal Factories.”
1992
Wake Forest University Gallery of Fine Art, Winston-Salem, NC.
Selected Group Exhibitions
2009
Davidson College, Announced, Davidson, NC.
Greenhill Center, Winter Show, Greensboro, NC.
2008
Art Now, Miami, FL
CTE, Charlotte, NC. “Summer Selection”
2007
Art Now, Miami, FL.
2006
CTE, Charlotte, NC.
Realis, Winston-Salem, NC.
2005
Green Hill Art Center, Greensboro, NC. “Winter Exhibition.”
West End Art Gallery, Winston-Salem, NC. “Holiday Exhibit.:
Realis, Winston-Salem, NC. “Small Works Show.”
CTE Gallery, Charlotte, NC. “Colors of Summer.”
West End Art Gallery, Winston-Salem, NC. Summer group exhibit.
Realis, Winston-Salem, NC. Summer group exhibit.
2004
West End Art Gallery, Winston-Salem, NC.
Firefly, Raleigh, NC. “Small Works.”
PS211, Winston-Salem, NC, “10x10 Charity Auction.”
Worrell Professional, Winston-Salem, NC. “Imagination: Winter/Spring Selection.”
Southern Lights, Greensboro, NC.
2003
Emmerson Troop, Los Angeles, CA.
Eight Legs Gallery, Waxhaw, NC.
Milton Rhodes Gallery, Winston-Salem, NC. “Here, Now: An Exhibition of Artists Presented by Project Space 211 and The Arts Council.”
Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art {SECCA}, Winston-Salem, NC. “Living Room.”
Carla, Los Angeles, CA.
2002
Pasadena Museum of California Art, Pasadena, CA.
Miller Durazo, Los Angeles, CA. “Wall Space 2.”
Fiz-ee, Pasadena, CA. “Recent Paintings.”
Mercury Art Works, Athens, GA. “Small Works.”
2000
Mercury Art Works, Athens, GA. “Mercury One: Launch.”
Raid Projects, The Spurgeon Building, Santa Ana, CA.
1998
Associated Artists & Milton Rhodes Galleries, Winston-Salem, NC. “ARText.” Curated by Teresa Bramlette, Gallery Director, Nexus Contemporary Art Center, Atlanta, GA.
The Warehouse, Winston-Salem, NC. “Remainder.”
1997
Fay Gold Gallery, Atlanta, GA. “Athens Underground.”
Atlanta Arts Festival, Atlanta, GA. Fay Gold representation.
Lamar Dodd Gallery, Athens, GA. “Shine.”
1996
Cortona, Italy. “Mostra.”
Cedar Street Studios, Athens, GA. Open House.
Lamar Dodd Galleries, Athens, GA. “Olympic Summer Exhibition.”
1995
Cedar Street Studios, Athens, GA. Open House.
1993
Wake Forest Gallery of Fine Art, Winston-Salem, NC.
1992
Associated Artists, Sawtooth Center for Visual Art, Winston-Salem, NC. “Summer Selections.”Red Deer University, Alberta, Canada. “International Exchange.”
Wake Forest University Gallery of Fine Art, Winston-Salem, NC.
1991
Associated Artists, Sawtooth Center for Visual Art, Winston-Salem, NC. “Summer Selections.”
1990
Wake Forest University Gallery of Fine Art, Winston-Salem, NC.
Interviews & Bibliography
2010
“Artist in Residence: Color Code,” Diana Greene, Winston-Salem Monthly, April 2010.
2008
Featured: Valet Magazine, Oct/Nov 2008
Published: Studio Visit Magazine, vol.I pg. 206 & 207
2003
“Fresh Expressions,” Tom Patterson, Winston-Salem Journal, August 31, 2003.
2001
“To Know Him is to Subscribe.” On line interview with Jeremy Rosenberg for The Secret City series at LATimes.com, April 9, 2001.
1997
“Athens Attacks.” 30 minute VHS recording interviewing Athens, GA artists.
“Shine,” Chris Wyrick, Flagpole, Athens, GA, October 22, 1997.
Professional Accomplishments
2009
Purchase, Bank of America, Ritz Carlton Hotel, Charlotte, NC.
2008
Calendar, WFDD 88.5 public radio promotion, Winston-Salem, NC.
Purchase, Fidelity Investments, Raleigh, NC.
Purchase, Nieman Marcus Permanent Collection, Topanga, CA.
2007
Purchase, Nieman Marcus Permanent Collection, Atlanta, GA.
Purchase, RSM McGladdrey, Charlotte, NC.
Lecture, The Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, NC.
2006
Purchase, Neiman Marcus Permanent Collection, Charlotte, NC.
Purchase, Davidson College, Davidson, NC.
Purchase, Shur-Tape Permanent Collection.
Purchase,Umstead Hotel Permanent Collection, Charlotte, NC.
2005
Purchase, Piedmont Natural Gas Permanent Collection.
2000-03
On-line publication of The Weekly Walker, www.theweeklywalker.com.
2000
Lecture, “The Conceptual Beautician,” Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC. Purchase, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC. Permanent Collection.
1997
Designer, “Troubled,” an exhibition of Northern Ireland artists documenting the struggles between Catholics and Protestants. Wake Forest University Art Gallery, Winston- Salem, NC.
1997
Lecture, “Why It Is Almost Not Important,” University of Georgia, Athens, GA.
1997
GALA committee member, Mel Chin’s Exhibit, “In The Name of the Place,” Los
Angeles County Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA.
1992-93
Member, Wake Forest University Student Union Purchasing Committee for the acquisition of contemporary art, New York, NY.
1992
Purchase, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC. Permanent Collection.
1990-93
Contributor to The Student, Wake Forest Universiy literary journal, publication of fiction and short story selections.
Performances
1997
Tate Center Theater, Athens, GA. “Paris 1919.”
Artist Statement: Great Art Exists as a Glimpse
The visual arts pick up where verbal communication [writing and speaking] leave off. Therefore, talking too much about art specifically can be a tricky undertaking and often an interference with the experience of the work. In short, an artist shouldn't 'spill the beans,' as one of my mentors put it.
My work is primarily interested in some of the more intangible aspects of the human experience - mood, tone, and the atmospheric nature of how we as humans perceive the world. I don't look to art to tell a story, to take up issues - whether social or political. All I look to art to do is to simply exist and in so existing to express something in the simplest and most direct manner possible.
For the past ten years I have been trying to parse my work of anything redundant, distracting, or roundabout in order to try and hit as close as possible to what I see as the nature of the human experience. I try, through visual means and all the tools that painting allows, to tap into the universal without bogging down in the disruptions of personal and often petty issues that might be affecting the thought of the day.
In my case, through a simple application and repetition of line, color, and texture I try to find the mainline into the human soul shaded by my personal perception. As hard as I try to remove my biases and input I still find myself lingering around in the corners of my work.
My work is like a binary equation of simple 'ones' and 'zeros' that accrue - hopefully - in a way that others find significant, genuine, and - if possible - truthful. Good art seems to function on several levels simultaneously. I have found that the more simple I make things, the more directly I apply my energies, then the more likely a certain level of complexity will arise in the work. Chess is actually a very simple game but within that simplicity is a profound depth. I am interested significantly in what that depth looks like, feels like, and is like.
I do not buy into the struggles between abstraction and figuration for supremacy in the visual arts. That argument is a canard. I see a painting as an object infused with meaning by human intervention. Paintings are objects that exist in the world and are not windows or illustrations of any idea or philosophy of any kind. Each object stands on its own merits or falls under the weight of its particular shortcomings. Art is not a stand-in for anything else, a proxy of any kind. Art - in my case painting - is an end unto itself and must stand on its own and be judged independently of any pervading social or political issues of the day.
Truly great art is timeless and maintains significance and power in any age and in any culture. Great art has no niche, requires no 'ism' of any kind. Despite a nearly pathological need for the dispensation of labels for cataloguing purposes and critical dissection, great art requires none of that to remain significant and moving.
One of the primary reasons that I choose to paint is that finally, after centuries of testing formal and conceptual boundaries, those limits have all been explored and the act of painting is now finally free to do what it has always yearned to do - to simply exist on its own and independent from the need to push the outside of any conceptual envelop. I consider this to be 'post-post-modernism,' the conceptual space that exists beyond all the dialectic call and responses that occupied most of cutting edge artistic life in the 20th century.
A painting offers no liberation or understanding, possesses no clues or key pieces of secret information, and can solve no conflict. A painting simply exists in the universe. In many ways a painting is more of a mirror than a window, reflecting and refracting what the viewer brings to the image. But unlike a mirror, a great painting will reflect a glimpse of how the viewer fits into the grand flow of the human experience. A profound painting acts more like a glimpse than a stare or some banal presentation of some fact.
These are some of the things that I ponder as I toil away, 'painting the fence' as a drunken, drug addled friend once told me in a bar in Los Angeles. For me painting is like a mantra, a repetition of gesture that eventually will get you beyond the gesture itself. The artist Morandi spent the greater part of his artistic life painting a series of 10-15 different bottles over and over again. The first few times he painted the bottles he was, in point of fact, just painting bottles. But after 20 years or so he wasn't painting bottles anymore, he was onto something else entirely. And this 'something else' is primarily what my work is about.
--
Charles Walker
December 9, 2003