Charles Williams’ New Series: “Capture”
Waiting for Sweetpea, oil on canvas, 12 x 12 in
Standing Still, oil on canvas, 36 x 60 in
Breakage, oil on panel, 16 x 20 in
Absence, oil on canvas, 30 x 30 in
Solo Exhibition Highlighting The Unexpected Forms of Nature
CHARLESTON, South Carolina – This winter, visitors to Robert Lange Studios (RLS) will come inside to get closer to nature. Fifteen magnificent landscape paintings featuring tranquil marshes, verdant forests and luminous sunsets will be on display starting December 2, 2011 in Capture, an exhibition of works by Hudson River School painter and Savannah College of Art and Design graduate Charles Williams. “The combination of Old World and New World perspectives that these two schools have provided makes for a stimulating and intriguing body of work,” says gallery owner Robert Lange. “Williams has created a signature painting style of sharp realism that fades to abstract drips; this style appears as both homage to his two ammeters and also an allegory on how nature is ever-changing.”
For the past six months Williams has been investigating nature’s evolution, culminating in a much-anticipated exhibition opening on December 2 and on view until December 22, at the gallery’s 2 Queen Street location. “I’ve begun to understand the transformative power of nature, its ability to evolve and change and how it can be manipulated and changed, but most of all its strength as a source for personal renewal,” says Charles. “As a landscape painter, I attempt to capture this strength but perhaps more honestly reveal that I’m merely adding drips of paint to canvas in awe of how effortlessly the natural world exists.”
Williams highlights through unique dimensions and contemporary application the unexpected forms of trees. Using oil paint, he has created paintings that evoke the scale of the lush countryside. In one panoramic painting, “Standing Still,” hundreds of trees are worn and beaten from the harsh winter but they stand tall, a few lean on each other for support. “Aspen trees have one interconnected root system and grow together for support as a community,” said Charles Williams. “In Standing Still I wanted to highlight a smaller family of trees within a larger society.”
While referencing photographs, Williams creates the underlying lights and darks of his paintings using a burnt sienna and turpentine wash. He slowly works on multiple layers of color while allowing the paint to drip down off the canvas. The final surface layer is a glaze of varnish.
Charles Williams at Robert Lange Studios
Leave a Reply