Bernard J Charnley
There is a strange and damaged hinterland of nature awakened in these displayed images. Yet their fateful appearance is illuminated by the imaginary of paint. It is a search for an undefined enchantment of shape, light, colour and metaphor, emerging out of alienated terrains.
It is this mystery of a damaged actual and its recuperated spirit that I find compelling, especially as it translates into changing forms and mediations across the paintings. It has a sense of a a journey or odyssey. One where the human, inscribed as a sign of making and abandonment, is then drawn into the spell of transfigured spaces.
Training:
- Foundation / Maidenhead College of Art
- Dip AD Course / Leeds College of Art
- B.Ed (Hons) London University
- MA Philosophy Open University
Solo:
- Colour Radicals/Rugby Art Gallery and Museum/Sept - Oct 2018
- Signs Of Disorder/Rugby Art Gallery and Museum/Feb 2014
- The Instability of Spaces/AirSpace Dialogue Box/Stoke-on-Trent/August 2009
- A Different Kind of Beauty/Harrington Studios/ Nottingham - April 2009
Group Exhibitions/Events/Networks:
-Featured in Highlights, AxisWeb/ Sept 2020
-Coventry Artspace selected artist of interest/Axis Web membership March 2019
-Coventry Open/Feb 2019
-John Moores Painting Prize/ selected for exhibition July 2016
-Volunteer participant/refurbish pre-Glassbox/Coventry/Jan 2013
-ARC Pioneer volunteer and event participant/The Square and Herbert Art Gallery/Coventry 2013
-Flash mob/Christmas Pop-up event/Coventry Station/The Square, Coventry/2012
-ARC (ACE funded) print commission/Coventry Artspace/2012
-The Serious And The Absurd - working towards comic criticality/Talk on practice/Coventry 2012
-Earlsdon Festival Show/ Coventry/2012
-Airvent/AirSpace Gallery/Stoke-on-Trent/2011
-Slideshow/AirSpace Gallery/Stoke-on-Trent/2011
-Kiss Me Quick/Harbour Arm Gallery/Margate/2011
-Motel Knadski/Trajector Art Fair/Contributing Artist/Brussels/2011
-There Is Beauty In The City/ Ezcurdia_30 Gallery/Gijon, Spain/August 2010
-Common Ground/AirSpace public art exhibition/Hanley Park Stoke-on-Trent/June 2010
-Learning Journeys/Urban Vision/Phase One/Sheffield/Feb 2010
-Learning Journeys/Urban Vision/Phase One/Leicester/2009
-Pecha Kucha Night/FatCat Cafe and Bar/Co-organiser/Performer/Stoke-on-Trent 2009
-Inter?ogation/Walsall New Art Gallery/Sept 2009 Collaborative with artist Brian Holdcroft
-Marina Abramovich/participant /Whitworth Gallery/Manchester/2009
-AntiFreeze/Manchester/2009
-Aftermath/AirSpace studio artists/Leek Institute, Leek/2009
-Preston Pest Project/Castlefield Gallery 2008-Allotments/Harrington Studios, Nottingham 2009
-Salon /D2 Gallery/Leipzig, Germany 2008
-Play/AirSpace, Stoke-on-Trent
-Short Cuts/AirSpace Gallery 2008
-Identity/The Artists Organisation/ Nottingham 2007
-Headtalk/forum/co-creator/Stoke-on-Trent 2007-8