Oil Painting on Canvas
146x114cm
A collection of highly recognizable characters populates Christian Charrière’s paintings. Screen stars
and rock icons are depicted with all the detail a portrait photographer would give them. The artist’s skill at capturing the person-ality of his subjects gives each image an echo of the familiar,
while his subtle color palette and varied textures lift them beyond duplication. His subjects have a quality of simultaneously posing and being caught unaware, giving his paintings an immediacy
that is tempered by a strong sense of formal composition. Working in oils on canvas, Charrière employs a palette dominated by greys. “I strongly control grey colors,” the artist says, and in his
work they take on a degree of variety matching that of paintings that use a far broader spectrum of colors. Equally impressive is the way in which he handles light. From cigarette smoke to
reflections in a pair of eyeglasses, the varied qualities of light and how they animate faces and the sppaces around them result in paintings that bring those faces alive while placing them
firmly in the artist’s personal world.
Exhibition in Agora Gallery NYC
January 2015
Exhibition Eden Fine Art Gallery