Alan Charlton
1948
born in Sheffield, England
lives and workes in England
1969-72
Royal Academy Schools, London
1966-69
Camberwell School of Art, London
1965-66
Sheffield School of Art
PUBLIC COLLECTION (selection)
ARCO Foundation Collection
Espace de l´Art Concret, Mouans-Sartoux, France
FNAC + CNAP Fonds national d´art contemporain, Paris, France
Hall Art Foundation, Schloss Derneburg Museum
MuHKA - Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp’
Museu Berardo, Lisbon
Trevi Flash Art Museum, Italy
ZKM | Karlsruhe
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022
THE CRITICAL EYE, A arte Invernizzi, Milano
2021
PAINTED / UNPAINTED, Konrad Fischer Galerie, Berlin
2020
PAINTED / UNPAINTED, Galeria Cayon, Madrid
The Breath Of The Boundry, A Arte Invernizzi, Milan, Italy
2019
Trapezium Paintings, Patrick De Brock Gallery, Knokke, Belgium
Angles, Galerie Jean Brolly, Paris, France
Painted / Unpainted, Slewe Gallery, Amsterdam
2018
Grey Paintings, Annely Juda Fina Art, London
2017
New Vertical Triangle Paintings, Konrad Fischer Galerie, Berlin
alan charlton, walter storms galerie, Munich
2015
Triangle Paintings, Galerie Tschudi, Zuoz
Triangle Paintings, Gallery Shilla, Daegu, Korea
Crosses and Triangles, Galería Miguel Marcos, Barcelona
Slewe Galerie, Amsterdam
Konrad Fischer Galerie, Düsseldorf
2014
Annely Juda Fine Art, London
triangle paintings, a arte invernizzi, milan
2013
Patrick de Brock Gallery, Knokke-Zoute
Galleria Alfonso Artiaco, Naples
Diagonal Paintings, Jean Brolly, Paris
Vertical Triangle Paintings, Holger Priess Galerie, Hamburg
2012
Triangle Paintings, Konrad Fischer Galerie, Berlin
2011
Gallery Shilla, Daegu, South Korea
New Works, Slewe Gallery, Amsterdam
A Arte Studio Invernizzi, Mailand
Couvent de la Tourette, Éveux
Triangle Paintings, Galerie Tschudi, Zuoz
Alan Charlton – Grid Paintings, Konrad Fischer Galerie, Düsseldorf
2010
Grid Paintings, Galeria Miguel Marcos, Barcelona
Studio d'Arte Contemporanea Pino Casagrande, Rome
2009
Single vertical and horizontal Paintings, Patrick de Brock Gallery, Knokke-Heist
Johyun Gallery, Busan, South Korea
Alfonso Artiaco, Naples
Painting, Bernier/Eliades Gallery, Athens
Villa Pisani Bonetti, Bagnolo di Lonigo
2008
Konrad Fischer Galerie, Berlin
Museum Kurhaus, Kleve
Caim Gallery, Pittenweem, Scotland
Johyun Gallery, Seoul
2007
Annely Juda Fine Art, London
A arte Studio Invernizzi, Milano
Galerie Jean Brolly, Paris
2006
Künstlerhaus Palais Thurn und Taxis, Bregenz
Outline paintings, Galerie Tschudi, Glarus
Outline Paintings, Dörrie Priess, Berlin
Annandale Gallery, Sydney
2005
Grey maze, Art Unlimited, Art 36 Basel (Annely Juda Fine Art, London)
Lieu d'Art Contemporain, Piet Moget / Layla Moget L'Association L.A.C., Aude Galerie Tschudi, Zuoz
Alfonso Artiaco, Naples
A Arte Studio Invernizzi, Milano
2004
4.5 centimetres, Galeria Foksal, Warsaw
Miguel Marcos, Zaragoza
L.A.C. Lieu d’Art Contemporain, Sigean
Galerie Marcus Richter, Berlin
2003
I want my Paintings to be: abstract, direct, urban, basic, modest, pure, simple, silent, honest, absolute, Galería Miguel Marcos, Barcelona
Galerie Lydie Rekow, Crest
2002
House of Art, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic
Inverleith House, Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh
Sleeper Exhibition Space, Edinburgh
Chateau de Fraisse, Fraisse
Agire la Purezza, A arte Studio Invernizzi, Milan
Grey Division, Museum Kurhaus Kleve
2001
Annely Juda Fine Art, London
Galerie Tschudi, Glarus
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
Early and new paintings, Konrad Fischer Galerie, Düsseldorf
Stark Gallery, New York
2000
Liliane & Michel Durand-Dessert, Paris
Galerij S65, Aalst, Belgium
Alfonso Artiaco, Pozzuoli/Naples
1999
Hohenthal und Bergen, Berlin
Alfonso Artiaco, Naples
Stark Gallery, New York
A Arte Studio Invernizzi, Milan
Galerie Tschudi, Glarus
Espace d'Art Contemporain, Demigny, France
Dörrie *Priess, Hamburg
1998
Konrad Fischer Galerie, Düsseldorf
Here and Now 1, Henry Moore Institute, Leeds
1997
Editions, London
Carré d'Art Contemporain de Nimes, France
Pino Casagrande, Rome
Museum Moderner Kunst Landkreis Cuxhaven, Otterndorf, Germany
Kunstverein in Hamburg
1996
Galerie Tschudi, Glarus
Annely Juda Fine Art, London
Modulo, Lisbon
Cairn Gallery, Nailsworth
A Arte Studio Invernizzi, Milan
Museum Moderner Kunst Landkreis Cuxhaven, Otterndorf
Grammatik des Sehens und Gestaltens, Kunstverein Hamburg
Vignate-Palazzo Municipale, Vignate, Italy
Galerie Tschudi, Glarus
1995
Alfonso Artiaco, Naples
Galerie Stadtpark, Krems
2nd Floor Exhibition Space, Reykjavik
Galerij S65, Aalst
1994
Foksal Gallery, Warsaw
Pino Casagrande, Rome
John Gibson Gallery, New York
Galerie nächst St. Stephan, Vienna
A Arte Studio Invernizzi, Milan
Burnett Miller, Los Angeles
1993
Victoria Miro, London
Liliane & Michel Durand-Dessert, Paris
Galerie Tschudi, Glarus
Kunsthaus Glarus, Glarus
Hohenthal und Bergen, Munich
1992
Konrad Fischer Galerie, Düsseldorf
Alfonso Artiaco, Pozzuoli / Naples
Cairn Gallery, Nailsworth
Museum Haus Esthers, Krefeld
Burnett Miller, Los Angeles
1991
Louver Gallery, New York
Jean Bernier, Athens
Hallen für neue Kunst, Schaffhausen
Galerie Tschudi, Glarus
Institute of Contemporary Art, London
Victoria Miro, London
1990
Pierre Huber, Geneva
Galerie Grässlin-Ehrhardt, Frankfurt a.M.
Städelschule, Frankfurt
Alfonso Artiaco, Pozzuoli / Naples
Graeme Murray, Edinburgh
Galleria Victoria Miro, Florence
Rosemarie Schwarzwälder, Vienna
Galerij S 65, Aalst
Galerie Nächst St. Stephan, Vienna
1989
Musee d'Art Moderne, Paris
Liliane & Michel Durand-Dessert, Paris
Konrad Fischer Galerie, Düsseldorf
Delfryd Celf, Caernarfon, Wales
Victoria Miro, London
Delfryd Celf, Amsterdam
Galerie Tschudi, Glarus, Switzerland
Castello di Rivolo, Torino, Italy
Dörrie * Priess, Hamburg
1988
Victoria Miro, London
Starkmann, London
Art & Project, Amsterdam
Michael Klein, New York
Galerij S65, Aalst
Palais des Beaux-Arts, Charleroi
Delfryd Celf, Caernarfon, Wales
1987
Galerie des Beaux-Arts, Nantes
Musee St. Pierre, Lyon
Delfryd Celf, Caernarfon, Wales
1986
Art & Project, Amsterdam
Victoria Miro, London
Liliane & Michel Durand-Dessert, Paris
Galerij S65, Aalst, Belgium
Konrad Fischer Galerie, Düsseldorf
1985
Graeme Murray, Edinburgh
John Hansard Gallery, Southampton
1984
Gerald Just, Hannover
Konrad Fischer Galerie, Düsseldorf
1983
Konrad Fischer Galerie, Düsseldorf
Art & Project, Amsterdam
Wild & Hardebeck, Amsterdam
Liliane & Michel Durand-Dessert, Paris
1982
Konrad Fischer Galerie, Düsseldorf
Stedelijk van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven
1981
Lisson Gallery, London
1980
Michele Lachowsky, Brussels
Graeme Murray, Edinburgh
Art & Project, Amsterdam
Liliane & Michel Durand-Dessert, Paris
1979
Galerie Konrad Fischer, Düsseldorf
Ink, Zurich
1978
Ausstellungsraum Ulrich Rückriem, Hamburg
Lisson Gallery, London
Barry Barker, London
Rolf Preisig, Basel
Graeme Murray, Edinburgh
Liliane & Michel Durand-Dessert, Paris
1977
Liliane & Michel Durand-Dessert, Paris
Art & Project, Amsterdam
Konrad Fischer Galerie, Düsseldorf
9 Channel Paintings, each exhibited simultaneously in 9 british city art galleries
1976
Leo Castelli Gallery, New York
Stedeljik van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven
Lisson Gallery, London
Rolf Preisig, Basel
Galerie Ghiringhelli-Sperone, Milan
1975
Konrad Fischer Galerie, Düsseldorf
Bruno Bischofsberger, Zurich
Museum of Modern Art, Oxford
1974
Gian Enzo Sperone, Torino
Sperone-Fischer Gallery, Rome
Art & Project, Amsterdam
1973
Nigel Greenwood, London
Konrad Fischer Galerie, Düsseldorf
1972
Konrad Fischer Galerie, Düsseldorf
Nigel Greenwood, London
Whitechapel Art Gallery, London
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2022
Go Back to the Future, eac - Espace de l'Art Concret, Mouans-Sartoux
2021
Alan Carlton - Richard Long, Kunst Museum Winterthur
Varia, galerie jean brolly, Paris
2020
Lines, Konrad Fischer Galerie, Düsseldorf
2019
Gallery Weekend, Opening Show Neue Grünstrasse 12, Konrad Fischer Galerie Berlin
Alan Charlton & Lesley Foxcroft: Angles, galerie jean brolly, Paris
Collection La composante Peintures, Frac Bretagne, Rennes
Painting with Method: Neoavantgarde Positions from the mumok Collection, Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna
Forms of Address, Laure Genillard Gallery, London
2018
50 Years, 50 Artists, Annely Juda Fine Art, London
Talk To Me / 25th Anniversary Exhibition, Von Linthel Gallery, Los Angeles
UNTITLED (MONOCHROME) 1975-2017, Richard Taittinger Gallery, New York
2017
Light/Dark, Annely Juda Fine Art, London
2016
Wolke und Kristall - Die Sammlung Dorothee und Konrad Fischer, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf
WITH A TOUCH OF PINK - WITH A BIT OF VIOLET - WITH A HINT OF GREEN - Dorothee Fischer in memoriam, Konrad Fischer Galerie, Düsseldorf
Steven Alders Alan Charlton Ulrich Erben, Walter Storms Galerie, Munich
2015
Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London
2014
Des Accords - 4 temps dans la collection Raymond Azibert, Les Abattoirs - Frac Midi-Pyrénées, Toulouse
2013
There is no such thing as a good painting about something (Ad Reinhardt)
There is no such thing as a good painting about nothing (Mark Rothko)
Alan Charlton | Sabine Groß | Callum Innes | Ingo Meller | Stephen Prina, Galerie Fricke, Berlin
2012
Double Rotation – Werke aus der Sammlung Lafrenz, Neues Museum Weserburg Bremen
2011
Alan Charlton / Ulrich Rückriem / Niele Toroni, Galleria A arte Studio Invernizzi, Milan
exploring abstraction, Galerie Tanit, Munich
... von privat, kunstraum no.10, Mönchengladbach
In Parallelo. Una Mostra. Tre Luoghi, Galleria A arte Studio Invernizzi, Milan
Strates Et Arts, Autour De Francois Morellet, Art Attitude Hervé Bize, Nancy
2010
one blue moment, Galerie Schütte, Essen
Galerie Tschudi, Zuoz
Painting, Process and Expansion, Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna
In-between Minimalisms, Play Van Abbe, Part 2: Time Machines, Stedelijk Van
Abbemuseum, Eindhoven
In-between Minimalisms & Free Sol Lewitt, Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven
Print Works, Johyun Gallery, Seoul
Fondamental Painting, Tate Britain, London
2009
Minimal Shift, Galeria Jana Koniarka, Trnava
Ulrich Rückriem / Alan Charlton, Bernier-Eliades Gallery, Athens
Carl Andre / Balthasar Burkhard / Alan Charlton / Richard Long, Galerie Tschudi, Zuoz
Le Mythe du Monochrome, Espace de l'art concret, Mouans Sartoux
arte povera bis minimal – Einblicke in die Sammlung Lafrenz, Museum Wiesbaden
Visiones de Confin, Institut Valencia d'Art Modern, Valencia
Abstractions (1956-2006), Musee Fabre, Montpellier
Sammlung XXL, Kunstraum Alexander Bürkle, Freiburg
2008
Private / Corporate, V Daimler Contemporary, Berlin
Neue Ansichten – Die Sammlung zeitgenössischer Kunst, Museum Kurhaus, Kleve
A Room of One's Own, Museo d´arte contemporanea Castello di Rivoli, Turin
Review, Galerie Neu, Berlin
Alan Charlton und Balthasar Burkhard, Galerie Tschudi, Glarus
series sequence structure, Johyun Gallery, Busan
Charlton, Long, Takeoka, Zeniuk, Galleri Opdahl, Stavanger
2007
Beziehungsweise, Galerie Hubert Winter, Vienna
Who's got the Big Picture?, Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Antwerpen
Andreas Stalzer - 20 Jahre Werkstatt für Kunstsiebdruck, Nö DOK für moderne Kunst, St. Pölten
Klio. Eine kurze Geschichte der Kunst in Euramerika nach 1945, ZKM, Karlsruhe
Collezione La Gaia, CeSAC, Caraglio
Charlton / Förg / Martin / Toroni, Patrick de Brock Gallery, Knokke-Heist
Balthasar Burkhard, Alan Charlton, Bethan Huws, Petra Wunderlich, Galerie Tschudi, Zuoz
Collectors 1 - Collezione La Gaia, Centro Sperimentale per le Arti Contemporanee, Caraglio
Collectie depot VBVR: Peter Struycken, Rijksmuseum Twenthe, Enschede
2006
Michael Biberstein, Alain Charlton, Glen Rubsamen, Galeria Miguel Marcos, Barcelona
regard 02: minimalismes, Espace de l'art concret, Mouans Sartoux
Alan Charlton & Lesley Foxcroft, Galerie Tschudi Glarus, Glarus
La collection de la Societé Génerale, Musée d'Art moderne de Saint-Etienne, Saint-Etienne
Galerie mit Bleistift Fischer - Papierarbeiten aus den 60er und 70er Jahren, Konrad Fischer Galerie, Düsseldorf
‘Horizontales Verticals Seules’, Musée de Pontoise, Pontoise
‘Dedica 1986-2006: vent’anni della galleria Alfonso Artiaco’, curated by J. Draganovic, Pan, Palazzo delle Arti Napoli, Naples
2005
Alan Charlton & David Tremlett, Galleria A arte Studio Invernizzi, Milano
collectie zomer 2005, de Zomer van Middelburg, Museum voor Hedendaagse Kunst, Antwerpen
after all, constructing an artwork is still building a dream, Galerie Markus Richter, Berlin
Far from the Sea, Künstlerhaus Palais Thurn & Taxis, Bregenz
‘Grey Maze’ Basel Art Fair
2004
dialogue series #2: Alan Charlton / David Tremlett, Galerie Markus Richter, Berlin
Pittura70 - pittura e astrazione analitica, Fondazione Zappettini per l'arte contemporanea, Chiavari, Italy
Galerie Tschudi, Zuoz, Switzerland
Minimal & Concept Art, Museum Moderner Kunst - Stiftung Wörlen, Passau
Die Neue Galerie als Sammlung 1950 - Heute, Neue Galerie Graz, Universalmuseum Joanneum, Graz
Marcus Richter, Berlin
Lieu d'Art Contemporain, Corbieres Maritimes, France
‘L’Art au Futur Anterieur’, Musee de Grenoble, Grenoble, France
‘Beyond Geometry’, Los Angeles County Museum of Modern Art & Miami Art Museum
2003
New presentation of the collection (VI), Museum voor Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen, Antwerp
Collectiepresentatie V - herfst 2003, Museum voor Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen, Antwerp
Collection Display - Positions in Painting: 1970 - 1985, Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven
Corso Terracciano 56, Alfonso Artiaco, Naples
2002
Dal colore al segno - Galleria A arte Studio Invernizzi, Milan
Eröffnungsausstellung der Galerie in Zuoz mit den Künstlern der Galerie, Galerie Tschudi, Zuoz
Blast to Freeze, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg
‘Colour – A Life of its Own’, Mucsarnok Kunstnalle, Budapest
The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London
2001
Paintings / Abstract, Konrad Fischer Galerie, Düsseldorf
à fur et à mesure, une collection, un point de vue, Espace de l'art concret, Mouans Sartoux
Carl Andre / Alan Charlton / Niele Toroni, Centre d'Art Neuchatel, Neuchatel
Anstiftung zu einer neuen Wahrnehmung, Neues Museum Weserburg Bremen
Alan Charlton und Richard Long, Galerie Tschudi, Glarus
‘UK in the Seventies’, Liliane & Michel Durand-Dessert Gallery, Paris
‘Works on Paper from Acconci to Bittel’ Victoria Miro Gallery, London
‘Geometrisk’ Konstruktiv Tendens, Stockholm
2000
Minimal Affect - Selections from the Permanent Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami
Art concret, Espace de l'art concret, Mouans Sartoux
Editionen, Galerie Edition Stalzer, Vienna
NEU 5th Anniversary, Galerie NEU, Berlin
Accord opposés, Centre d'art contemporain Bouvet Ladubay, Saumur
1999
collectie herfst 1999 (1), Museum voor Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen, Antwerp
Heads Up - Highlights from the Permanent Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami
1998
Galerie Tschudi, Glarus
‘Arterias’, Malmo Konsthall
1997
Le bel aujourd, Institut d'art contemporain Villeurbanne/Rhône-Alpes, Villeurbanne
Die Erste Sammlung Zu Gast Im Kunsthaus Mürzzuschlag, Kunsthaus Merz, Mürzzuschlag
collection summer 1997, Museum voor Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen, Antwerp
Vignate-Palazzo Municipale, Italy
1996
Selection from the collection, Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven
colección permanente. novas incorporacións. colección fundación arco, Centro Galego
de Arte Contemporánea, Santiago de Compostela
Monochromie - Geometrie, Sammlung Goetz, Munich
1995
Au rendez-vous des amis, coll. A. L'H., musée d'art moderne et contemporain, Geneva
Carl Andre / Alan Charlton / Hamish Fulton / Richard Long / Mario Merz / Ulrich Rückriem / Niele Toroni, Galerie Tschudi, Glarus
From Here, Gallery Karsten Schubert, London
1994
Vue du collectionneur, Espace de l'art concret, Mouans Sartoux
L'hôtel Bouhier de Savigny reçoit le Frac, FRAC Bourgogne, Dijon
Visione Britannica II, Valentina Moncada Arte Contemporanea, Rome
Die Erste Sammlung von 1988 - 1994, Positionen Aktueller Kunst, Ausstellungsräume der Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien, Vienna
‘Punishment & Decoration’, Hohenthal und Bergen, Köln
‘Conversation Pieces’, ICA, Philadelphia
Dorrie + Priess, Hamburg (with Lesley Foxcroft and Jurgen Albrecht)
1993
Artists Choice / Works from the Collection, Southampton City Art Gallery, Southampton
Leo Castelli, New York
‘Marginal’, Galerie Sophia Ungers, Köln
‘Espace Libere Espace de l’Art Concret’, Chateau de Mouans Aartoux, France
‘Singular Dimensions in Painting’, Guggenheim Museum, New York
1992
Instructions and Diagrams, Victoria Miro Gallery, London
Abstrakte Malerei zwischen Analyse und Synthese, Rosemarie Schwarzwälder, Vienna
Burnett Miller, Los Angeles
Das offene Bild, Westfalisches Landesmuseum, Munster
‘La Realidad Desautorizada’, Gamarra Garrigues Gallery, Madrid
1990
Richard Tuttle & Alan Charlton, Victoria Miro Gallery, London
Régions de dissemblance, Musée Départemental d'Art Contemporain de Rochechouart, Rochechouart
Liliane & Michel Durand-Dessert, Paris
‘Hommage aan Vincent van Gogh’, Haags Gemeente Museum, The Hague
Acquistions recentes, Pierre Huber, Geneva
1989
Mentalitäten und Konstruktionen in Arbeiten auf Papier, Rosemarie Schwarzwälder, Vienna
Domenico Bianchi / Alan Charlton / Günther Förg / Barbara Kruger / Toon Verhoef, Museo d'arte contemporanea Castello di Rivoli, Turin
Another Group Show, Galerie Hubert Winter, Vienna
Ulrich Ruckriem & Alan Charlton, Victoria Miro Gallery, London
Prospect 89, Frankfurt
Galerie Nachst St. Stephan, Vienna
1984
At the Serpentine: Graeme Murray Gallery, Serpentine Gallery, London
‘The British Art Show’: Birmingham, Edinburgh, Sheffield, Southampton
Inaugural Exhibition, Castello di Rivoli, Torino
F. Becht Collection, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
ROSC, Dublin
1982
documenta 7, Kassel
1981
Through the summer, Lisson Gallery, London
1980
Sammlung Panza (II), Kunsthalle Düsseldorf
‘New Spirit in Painting’, Royal Academy, London
‘New Works of Contemporary Art & Music’, Fruit Market Gallery, Edinburgh
Orchard Gallery, Londonderry, Northern Ireland
1979
Through the summer, Lisson Gallery, London
‘Un Certain Art Anglais’,
ARC, Musee d’Art Moderne de la ville de Paris
‘JPZ’, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels
1978
Summer Show, Lisson Gallery, London
‘Fracture du Monochrome Aujourd’hui en Europe’, ARC, Musee d’Art Moderne de la ville de Paris
1977
Group Show, Lisson Gallery, London
‘Cinq Jeune Artistes Anglais’, Culture de Metz Centre, Maison de la Culture de Bourges, France
1975
Fundamentele schilderkunst/Fundamental Painting, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
1974
Jo Baer / Alan Charlton / Bob Law / Robert Mangold / Bob Ryman, Lisson Gallery, London
Painting Exhibition, Scottish Arts Council Gallery, Edinburgh
1973
Eine Malerei-Ausstellung mit Malern, die die Malerei in Frage stellen könnten, Städtisches Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach
‘Prospect 73’, Kunsthalle Dusseldorf
‘7 Aus London’, Kunsthalle Bern
1972
Drawing, Museum of Modern Art, Oxford
Galerie Tschudi: Alan Charlton - It Started with a Chameleon, 2019
Kleve Museum Kurhaus: Alan Charlton. Kleve 2008 / 2009. (cat.)
Annely Juda Fine Art: Alan Charlton: Outline. London 2007.
Mosset, O.: Carl Andre, Alan Charlton, Niele Toroni: une exposition au CAN - Centre d'art Neuchatel. Neuchatel 2002. (Catalogue)
Schneider, E.: Follow me: britische Kunst an der Unterelbe. Stade 1997. (cat.)
Galerie Stadtpark: Quad. Krems 1995. (cat.)
Galeria Foksal: I Am An Artist Who Makes A Grey Painting. Warsaw 1994.
Museum Haus Esters: Alan Charlton. Krefeld 1992. (cat.)
ICA: Exhibition catalogue. London 1991.
Hallen für Neue Kunst. Schaffhausen 1991. (cat.)
The Paragon Press: 10 Grey Squares, Portfolio. London 1991. (cat.)
Fuchs. R. H.: Domenico Bianchi, Alan Charlton, Günther Förg, Barbara Kruger, Toon Verhoef: Castello di Rivoli. Rivoli 1989.
Palais des Beaux-Arts & ARC, Musee d'Art Moderne: Invitation Cards and Installations Photographs of One-Man Exhibitions. Paris 1989.
Durand-Dessert: 50 Grey Books. Paris 1989.
Musee St. Pierre: Corner Paintings 1986. Lyon 1987. (cat.)
John Hansard Gallery: Line Paintings 1983-85. Southampton 1985. (cat.)
Van Abbemuseum: Selected Paintings 1969-81. Eindhoven 1975. (cat.)
Lisson Gallery: 9 channel paintings, each exhibited simultaneously in 9 British city art galleries. London 1977. (cat.)
Museum of Modern Art, Oxford / Stedelijk Van Abbe-Museum, Eindhoven: Alan Charlton. Eindhoven 1975. (cat.)
Van Abbemuseum: Drawings of Paintings. Eindhoven 1975.
Kunsthalle, Bern: Alan Charlton. Bern 1973. (cat.)
Huber, C.: 7 aus London. Bern 1973. (cat.)
Städtisches Museum, Mönchengladbach: Eine Malerei-Ausstellung mit Malern, die die Malerei in Frage stellen könnten. Mönchengladbach 1973. (cat.)
Contemporary Magazine, Issue 82, 2006
John Slyce
Alan Charlton: Vertical Integration
ALAN CHARLTON: VERTICAL INTEGRATION
His self-authored epigram reads: ‘Alan Charlton is an artist who makes a grey painting.’ It’s that simple. In conversation, Charlton is, like his work, honest, direct, modest and often given to being quietly profound. Perhaps those characteristics, more so than the mystical, or metaphysical qualities that constitute the partial legacy of the monochrome, are what make writing about his work notoriously difficult. The monochrome can be described more or less fully in words. It was, after all, its proximity to language and inherent ability to serve as a foundation for critique that allowed it to pass from the avant-garde to Minimalism and into Conceptualism.
Alan Charlton’s statement above – borne out by his practice for some 35 years – sets him apart from being a painter and establishes him as an artist instead. He first showed his grey monochromes at Konrad Fischer Galerie in 1972. As with others who have pursued the primal through paint across the last century, Charlton had already begun to paint monochromes two if not three years earlier as a student, and made certain decisions about what he would allow into his practice (and to an extent his life) and what would be kept out. Charlton wanted to make a painting out of the most ordinary and basic materials. He wanted a painting that was abstract, honest, direct, urban, pure, simple, silent and absolute. His first canvases were notched with serial permutations of square apertures that took their measure from the 4.5 cm module of the painting’s edge. That already sounds far too finicky and complicated. The 4.5 cm module is given: this is the ‘edge’ produced by a standard piece of 2x1 inch timber and the stock material of the builder’s trade. After working through other industrial colours – red, brown, black – Charlton settled on grey for its promise of stillness and ordinary status as material.
Positioned as a statement rather than an experiment, Charlton’s grey monochromes are materialist in intention. They offer an eloquent and powerful adventure nonetheless. Their greyness – hanging still and silent like the imprint left on the city sky by its urban industrial zones – is their dominant feature. Charlton treats each element of a work equally: from concept, to the building of a painting, painting the painting, its packing (he builds their individual boxes with equal attention and care), to transporting and installing the works, and designing the catalogue. Wood, canvas, shape, size: all are equal in conceptual weight and treatment. This is not a feature, or fetish of a painterly craft. It’s an expression of Charlton’s work ethic and the conceptual base of his practice. All this is, most simply put, his job. And he treats it as such. Charlton has never managed to bring assistants into his studio and divide or rationalize his production. Workers are more likely to share their lunch and holidays than their tools; for Charlton, wood canvas,
paint and cardboard are his tools. In speaking to Alan Charlton about his practice, I have the feeling that, for him it would be straightforwardly dishonest to do anything other or less. An ethic, when treated as such, takes on a political value and tone. Charlton’s paintings are of the left. They are socialist. While I am reeling out what too many would deem unfashionable anachronisms, I might as well broach the subject of Modernism. Alan Charlton still believes in the promise of its unfinished project. I am still working out the relations of that fact to my belief his painting does not belong wholly to a set of prolonged end-game moves enacted via the monochrome, nor is it fully in line with a practice of painting in some feigned Year Zero. If it were clearly and identifiably either, then there would not be much to look at in 2006. I am convinced that there, in fact, is.
One might start with a plainly stated material object with sculptural overtones. This posits a painting that is not a self-contained vehicle to be looked at, but a work to be seen in relation and aspect to the space it exists in. As self-composed and stoic as they are, Charlton’s paintings are a direct act against composition. To the degree that any composition exists – and there is a great deal in operation – it exists as composition as context and within the installation of works in space. Meaning then resides in the total context, or between the placement of works within a gallery, room or space. For Charlton, making a painting is largely about activating the space that it resides in. A wall is the fundamental support for his painting but his paintings are not ‘wall paintings’. They are, equally and to a similar degree, wall bound but not entirely bound by their wall. Alan Charlton would handle it more eloquently by simply stating that his paintings relate to each other but also to the space in which they are installed. Whether it is a square hole painting, slot painting, channel painting, equal part, single panel, detail, line, or panel painting – this is his nomenclature and developmental typology – the space inside a painting and out is as important as the painting itself.
His paintings in most, if not nearly all cases, are not specially made for a space. Still Charlton aims for each to feel as if they were in their place. Like so much of what he does, it is an approach grounded in honesty: that to the space a work exists in, honesty to the way a painting is made, and an honesty to the way a viewer encounters the work. My earliest and, I should admit, for too long, my only encounter with Alan Charlton’s work was to hear it mentioned as the fodder of tutorial advice lent to bemused and befuddled students of painting. I am preparing myself now to deliver much the same soon; as a material example of a practice that might show one how to constructively and productively fend off exactly such advice and get on with some honest and independent work, thought and labour.
John Slyce is a writer and critic based in London
WITH A TOUCH OF PINK - WITH A BIT OF VIOLET - WITH A HINT OF GREEN - DOROTHEE FISCHER - IN MEMORIAM
03. Jun 2016 - 23. Jul 2016
DÜSSELDORF