Charlie Roberts

A cultural magpie, Charlie Roberts’ works borrow from art historical and pop cultural sources. His cramped paintings display the perspectival complexity of ancient Egyptian and Byzantine painting–the contents are stacked one above the other, showing different views simultaneously. They bring to mind Hockney's early paintings and photo collages, Cubism, and comic books. The subject matter–utterly contemporary, banal, and everyday–is at odds with the delicacy of the medium they are made in. Watercolour on paper, over a painted pastel ground which unifies the overall image and brings harmonious tonal order to the chaotic scenarios.

He has had solo exhibitions at institutions such as Rice University Art Gallery in Houston, Kunsthal KAdE in Amsterfoort, and Trafo Kunsthall in Oslo. His work has been included in group exhibitions at Angell Gallery in Vancouver, Randall Scott Projects in New York, David Risley Gallery in Copenhagen, and Richard Heller Gallery in Santa Monica, among many other venues internationally.

Courtesy of David Risley Gallery