Charles Wilkin
Artist Statement
Fundamentally my work investigates the innate struggle between cause and effect. Derived primarily from the study of headlines, sounds bites and idle conversations my assemblages attempt to transpose these disjointed remnants of media overload and targeted consumption into tangible yet uncertain analogies. My motivation and objective is simply to mirror our behavior by fusing these cultural fragments into new stories that challenge our collective assumptions and aspirations. Offering in return alternate realities and uninhibited probabilities as a manifesto for absolution.
The immediate nature of collage along with the diverse mediums and improvisational assembly techniques I employ replicate the frenetic world we live in. By affording nothing more than filtered reflections my work is able to remove itself from the expectations of reality and aesthetic, relying rather on instinctual analysis as a means to critique our environment. This subjective process also provides an unobstructed opportunity to freely intertwine conventional artist mediums with modern technologies, such as giclee, polymer gel transfers and digital manipulation. Together these methods bridge the past with the present, transforming familiar imagery into mysterious quilt like compositions that expose humanities often misguided ambition for the future.
Through a compound perspective of suspicion and conviction my evaluation of this world is informed and revised daily, distilling further my underlying obsession with the idyllically mundane. From within this conceptual and systemic framework style and technique are exploited only as a means to an end. My work is essentially a product of its environment, for me clarity and relief is found solely through the process itself. What remains is a new and deconstructed remnant of our existence, an undefined record to be reconsidered. The conclusion, if any, is left to the viewer’s discretion.
CV
2012
Global Projects
Group Show
Broadway Gallery, New York, New York
2012
Exhibition B
Group Show
Calico Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York
2012
Small Works
Group Show
440 Gallery, Brooklyn, New York
2012
The Mirage Show
Group Show
Brooklyn Fireproof, Brooklyn, New York
2011
All That Remains
Group Show
Guest Curator and Exhibiting Artist
Ugly Art Room, Brooklyn, New York
2011
Days Are Numbered
Solo Show
Alliance Gallery, Narrowsburg, New York
2011
Art on the Edge
Group Show
Hawley Silk Mill, Hawley, Pennsylvania
2011
Cutters
Group Show
The Parlour, Brooklyn, New York
2010
Retroism
Group Show
Retrospective Gallery, Byron Bay, Australia
2007
New Works
Group Show
Applegate Gallery, Santa Monica, California
2007
Cut And Paste
Group Show
Tag Art Gallery, Nashville, Tennessee
2006
Deconstructing The American Image
Group Show
Museum Works Gallery, Hollywood, California
2006
Rivieria Triennial
Group Show
Rivera Gallery, Brooklyn, New York
2003
Index-A
Solo Show
Rivera Gallery, Brooklyn, New York
1996
Mixing Messages
Group Show
Copper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, New York
Collections
Permanent Collection
Museum of Decorative Arts, Hamburg, Germany
Permanent Collection
Index-A
Library of Congress, Washington, DC
Publications
Index-A By Charles Wilkin
Published By Die-Gestalten Verlag (2003)
Isbn 3-931126-71-4
Additional Publications
Arkitip # 20, Emigre Issue #63, I-DN, Juxtapoz, Metropolis Magazine, Rojo
Awards
2003 Nominee National Communication Design Award
Copper-Hewitt National Design Museum, New York, New York
Education
1992 Bachelor of Fine Arts
The Columbus College of Art and Design, Columbus Ohio
