Charlie hunter
“If it is within the realm of human evolution, or the whim of the Divine, to allow one individual to possess the gift of a natural sense of design, then Charlie Hunter is certainly the lucky winner… No Oriental or Occidental master of the pure line can surpass what Charlie, almost matter-of-factly, does when he takes pencil in hand.” – Richard Schmid, ALLA PRIMA II, 2013
I was born in a small town in New Hampshire where we used to swim in the abandoned granite quarries. We had pigs and chickens and rambling barns. I’d walk home from school along the branch line rails of the Boston & Maine, and read the names and slogans on the box cars that’d roll by, things like “The Nickel Plate Road” and “Santa Fe All The Way”…..
When they put a highway bypass through our barns, my family returned to the house built by my great, great, great grandfather in Vermont, where my Great Aunts lived. We made (and still make) maple syrup there and had (and still have) a hand-cranked cider press which makes amazing cider but can remove a finger if you’re not careful (just ask Uncle Andrew). My Dad was an occasional minister who ran a small print shop. There was always a lot of paper and drawing stuff around. I drew a lot. Though I did not appreciate it at the time, in college I was lucky enough to be forced to draw the figure three days a week from 8:00 am till noon under the tutelage of William Bailey. Afterwards, I got a job designing tour posters for acts like The Clash and REM and The Jerry Garcia Band. I got to design a lot of album covers.
Now I live back in Vermont on the banks of the Connecticut River with my studio in an old paper mill. There, I like to paint what nature does to what man creates. Of late I have been painting primarily in monochrome, using COBRA raw umber. If feeling sporty, maybe I’ll blend in some ultramarine blue, viridian, yellow ochre, burnt sienna or unbleached titanium. Sometimes I’ll do some encaustic work.
If I spoke art-speak, I suppose this is where one would throw in the paragraph about exploration, dialogue, hegemony, duality and so on. But I distrust academic-talk, finding it more excluding than inclusive, so let me just say that I believe contemporary representationalism can be just as exciting and dynamic as any other ‘ism’ in art. At some point the academy is going to be forced to accept the explosion of activity in a field it left for dead. I hope my work plays a role in where this genre heads in the next decades.
My goal is to paint beautifully that which is not traditionally considered beautiful. Sorta like a less-grotesque Anselm Keifer in a better mood. Thanks for looking.
As an Art Ambassador for Royal Talens, I use Cobra Solvent-Free Oils in my work.
