Bernard Charnley
Bernard Charnley is an English painter born in 1948 in Reading and is now based in Frome, Somerset. Charnley trained in graphics and painting at Leeds College of Art. His interest and study in philosophy led to graduating from the Open University with his MA. This informs his body of work which, through distinct series and ranging across the figurative and abstract, reflects with imaginative renderings on the nature of social fracture.
Current selection
These oil paintings address land and seascape traditions through which Charnley assembles a critical visual dialogue on the zeitgeist of contemporary crises. Balancing abstraction and figuration, the work engages with spatial tensions between geometry, surface, and illusion. Using an intuitive and gestural process, the paintings presently feature accumulated paint layers, selective use of oil bars and canvas insertions. Through scraping, scoring, and reworking, an unsettled suggestive surface results. Titles drawn from chance phrases further disrupt meaning, inviting multiple interpretations.
The conceptual underlay to this series lies in ongoing collective societal and ecological perceptions. Metaphor and ambiguity troubling the scenic form is the resulting method of approach.
CV
- Foundation / Maidenhead College of Art
- Dip AD Course / Leeds College of Art
- B.Ed (Hons) London University
- MA Philosophy Open University
Selected exhibitions:
2025 / OS group exhibition / Frome
2022 / Rugby Open / group exhibition
2019 / Coventry Open / group exhibition
2018 / Colour Radicals / solo exhibition / Rugby Art Gallery
2016 / John Moores Painting Prize / group exhibition / Walker Art Gallery / Liverpool
2014 / Signs Of Disorder / solo exhibition / Rugby Art Gallery
2011 / Motel Knadski /Trajector Art Fair / Contributing Artist / Brussels
2011 / Kiss Me Quick / group exhibition / Harbour Arm Gallery / Margate
2011 / Airvent /AirSpace Gallery/ solo exhibition / Stoke-on-Trent
2010 / There Is Beauty In The City / group exhibition / Ezcurdia_30 Galler / Gijon / Spain
2009 / The Instability of Spaces / solo exhibition / AirSpace Dialogue Box
2010 / Common Ground /AirSpace group exhibition / Stoke-on-Trent
2009 / Inter?ogation / Collaboration / Walsall New Art Gallery.
2009 / Marina Abramovich / group participant / Whitworth Gallery / Manchester.
2009 / Aftermath / AirSpace studio artists / Leek Institute / Leek
2008 / Short Cuts /group exhibition / AirSpace Gallery / Stoke-on-Trent
2008 / Salon / D2 Gallery / group exhibiton / Leipzig / Germany
2008. / Short Cuts / group exhibition / AirSpace Gallery /Stoke-on- Trent
2007 Identity / group exhibition / The Artists Organisation / Nottingham
2007-8 Headtalk/ forum / co-creator / Stoke-on-Trent
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