Alan Charlton

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
 

2023

DIVIDED TRAPEZIUM PAINTINGS, Galerie Tschudi, Zurich, Switzerland
 

2022

THE CRITICAL EYE, A arte Invernizzi, Milan, Italy
 

2021

PAINTED / UNPAINTED, Konrad Fischer Galerie, Berlin; Konrad Fischer Galerie, Düsseldorf
 

2020

PAINTED / UNPAINTED, Galeria Cayon, Madrid, Spain

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, Netherlands
 

2018

Grey Paintings, Annely Juda Fina Art, London, UK
 

2017

New Vertical Triangle Paintings, Konrad Fischer Galerie, Berlin

alan charlton, walter storms galerie, Munich, Germany
 

2015

Triangle Paintings, Galerie Tschudi, Zuoz, Switzerland

Triangle Paintings, Gallery Shilla, Daegu, Korea

Crosses and Triangles, Galería Miguel Marcos, Barcelona, Spain

Slewe Galerie, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Konrad Fischer Galerie, Düsseldorf
 

2014

Annely Juda Fine Art, London, UK

triangle paintings, a arte invernizzi, Milan, Italy
 

2013

Patrick de Brock Gallery, Knokke-Zoute, Belgium

Galleria Alfonso Artiaco, Naples, Italy

Diagonal Paintings, Jean Brolly, Paris, France

Vertical Triangle Paintings, Holger Priess Galerie, Hamburg, Germany
 

2012

Triangle Paintings, Konrad Fischer Galerie, Berlin
 

2011

Gallery Shilla, Daegu, South Korea

New Works, Slewe Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands

A Arte Studio Invernizzi, Milan, Italy

Couvent de la Tourette, Éveux, France

Triangle Paintings, Galerie Tschudi, Zuoz, Switzerland

Alan Charlton – Grid Paintings, Konrad Fischer Galerie, Düsseldorf
 

2010

Grid Paintings, Galeria Miguel Marcos, Barcelona, Spain

Studio d'Arte Contemporanea Pino Casagrande, Rome, Italy
 

2009

Single vertical and horizontal Paintings, Patrick de Brock Gallery, Knokke-Heist, Belgium

Johyun Gallery, Busan, South Korea

Alfonso Artiaco, Naples, Italy

Painting, Bernier/Eliades Gallery, Athens, Greece

Villa Pisani Bonetti, Bagnolo di Lonigo, Italy
 

2008

Konrad Fischer Galerie, Berlin

Museum Kurhaus, Kleve, Germany

Caim Gallery, Pittenweem, Scotland, UK

Johyun Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
 

2007

Annely Juda Fine Art, London, UK

A arte Studio Invernizzi, Milan, Italy

Galerie Jean Brolly, Paris, France
 

2006

Künstlerhaus Palais Thurn und Taxis, Bregenz, Austria

Outline paintings, Galerie Tschudi, Glarus, Switzerland

Outline Paintings, Dörrie Priess, Berlin

Annandale Gallery, Sydney, Australia
 

2005

Grey maze, Art Unlimited, Art 36 Basel, Switzerland  (Annely Juda Fine Art, London)

Lieu d'Art Contemporain, Piet Moget / Layla Moget L'Association L.A.C., Aude Galerie Tschudi, Zuoz, Switzerland

Alfonso Artiaco, Naples, Italy

A Arte Studio Invernizzi, Milan, Italy
 

2004

4.5 centimetres, Galeria Foksal, Warsaw, Poland

Miguel Marcos, Zaragoza, Spain

L.A.C. Lieu d’Art Contemporain, Sigean, France

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, Spain

Galerie Lydie Rekow, Crest, France
 

2002

House of Art, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic

Inverleith House, Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, UK

Sleeper Exhibition Space, Edinburgh, UK

Chateau de Fraisse, Fraisse, France

Agire la Purezza, A arte Studio Invernizzi, Milan, Italy

Grey Division, Museum Kurhaus Kleve, Germany
 

2001

Annely Juda Fine Art, London, UK

Galerie Tschudi, Glarus, Switzerland

Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Early and new paintings, Konrad Fischer Galerie, Düsseldorf

Stark Gallery, New York, USA
 

2000

Liliane & Michel Durand-Dessert, Paris, France

Galerij S65, Aalst, Belgium

Alfonso Artiaco, Pozzuoli/Naples, Italy
 

1999

Hohenthal und Bergen, Berlin

Alfonso Artiaco, Naples, Italy

Stark Gallery, New York, USA

A Arte Studio Invernizzi, Milan, Italy

Galerie Tschudi, Glarus, Switzerland

Espace d'Art Contemporain, Demigny, France

Dörrie *Priess, Hamburg, Germany
 

1998

Konrad Fischer Galerie, Düsseldorf

Here and Now 1, Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, UK
 

1997

Editions, London, UK

Carré d'Art Contemporain de Nimes, France

Pino Casagrande, Rome, Italy

Museum Moderner Kunst Landkreis Cuxhaven, Otterndorf, Germany

Kunstverein in Hamburg, Germany
 

1996

Galerie Tschudi, Glarus, Switzerland

Annely Juda Fine Art, London, UK

Modulo, Lisbon, Portugal

Cairn Gallery, Nailsworth, UK

A Arte Studio Invernizzi, Milan, Italy

Museum Moderner Kunst Landkreis Cuxhaven, Otterndorf, Germany

Grammatik des Sehens und Gestaltens, Kunstverein Hamburg, Germany

Vignate-Palazzo Municipale, Vignate, Italy

Galerie Tschudi, Glarus, Switzerland
 

1995

Alfonso Artiaco, Naples, Italy

Galerie Stadtpark, Krems, Austria

2nd Floor Exhibition Space, Reykjavik, Iceland

Galerij S65, Aalst, Belgium
 

1994

Foksal Gallery, Warsaw, Poland

Pino Casagrande, Rome, Italy

John Gibson Gallery, New York, USA

Galerie nächst St. Stephan, Vienna, Austria

A Arte Studio Invernizzi, Milan, Italy

Burnett Miller, Los Angeles, USA
 

1993

Victoria Miro, London, UK

Liliane & Michel Durand-Dessert, Paris, France

Galerie Tschudi, Glarus, Switzerland

Kunsthaus Glarus, Glarus, Switzerland

Hohenthal und Bergen, Munich, Germany
 

1992

Konrad Fischer, Düsseldorf

Alfonso Artiaco, Pozzuoli / Naples, Italy

Cairn Gallery, Nailsworth, UK

Museum Haus Esthers, Krefeld, Germany

Burnett Miller, Los Angeles, USA
 

1991

Louver Gallery, New York, USA

Jean Bernier, Athens, Greece

Hallen für neue Kunst, Schaffhausen, Switzerland

Galerie Tschudi, Glarus, Switzerland

Institute of Contemporary Art, London, UK

Victoria Miro, London, UK
 

1990

Pierre Huber, Geneva, Switzerland

Galerie Grässlin-Ehrhardt, Frankfurt a. Main, Germany

Städelschule, Frankfurt, Germany

Alfonso Artiaco, Pozzuoli / Naples, Italy

Graeme Murray, Edinburgh, UK

Galleria Victoria Miro, Florence, Italy

Rosemarie Schwarzwälder, Vienna, Austria

Galerij S 65, Aalst, Belgium

Galerie Nächst St. Stephan, Vienna, Austra
 

1989

Musee d'Art Moderne, Paris, France

Liliane & Michel Durand-Dessert, Paris, France

Konrad Fischer, Düsseldorf

Delfryd Celf, Caernarfon, Wales, UK

Victoria Miro, London, UK

Delfryd Celf, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Galerie Tschudi, Glarus, Switzerland

Castello di Rivolo, Turin, Italy

Dörrie * Priess, Hamburg, Germany
 

1988

Victoria Miro, London, UK

Starkmann, London, UK

Art & Project, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Michael Klein, New York, USA

Galerij S65, Aalst, Belgium

Palais des Beaux-Arts, Charleroi, Belgium

Delfryd Celf, Caernarfon, Wales, UK
 

1987

Galerie des Beaux-Arts, Nantes, France

Musee St. Pierre, Lyon, France

Delfryd Celf, Caernarfon, Wales, UK
 

1986

Art & Project, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Victoria Miro, London, UK

Liliane & Michel Durand-Dessert, Paris, France

Galerij S65, Aalst, Belgium

Konrad Fischer, Düsseldorf
 

1985

Graeme Murray, Edinburgh, UK

John Hansard Gallery, Southampton, UK
 

1984

Gerald Just, Hannover, Germany

Konrad Fischer, Düsseldorf
 

1983

Konrad Fischer, Düsseldorf

Art & Project, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Wild & Hardebeck, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Liliane & Michel Durand-Dessert, Paris, France
 

1982

Konrad Fischer, Düsseldorf

Stedelijk van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, Netherlands
 

1981

Lisson Gallery, London, UK
 

1980

Michele Lachowsky, Brussels, Belgium

Graeme Murray, Edinburgh, UK

Art & Project, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Liliane & Michel Durand-Dessert, Paris, France
 

1979

Konrad Fischer, Düsseldorf

Ink, Zurich, Switzerland
 

1978

Ausstellungsraum Ulrich Rückriem, Hamburg, Germany

Lisson Gallery, London, UK

Barry Barker, London, UK

Rolf Preisig, Basel, Switzerland

Graeme Murray, Edinburgh, UK

Liliane & Michel Durand-Dessert, Paris, France
 

1977

Liliane & Michel Durand-Dessert, Paris, France

Art & Project, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Konrad Fischer, Düsseldorf

9 Channel Paintings, each exhibited simultaneously in 9 british city art galleries
 

1976

Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, USA

Stedeljik van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, Netherlands

Lisson Gallery, London, UK

Rolf Preisig, Basel, Switzerland

Galerie Ghiringhelli-Sperone, Milan, Italy
 

1975

Konrad Fischer, Düsseldorf

Bruno Bischofsberger, Zurich, Switzerland

Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, UK
 

1974

Gian Enzo Sperone, Turin, Italy

Sperone-Fischer Gallery, Rome, Italy

Art & Project, Amsterdam, Netherlands
 

1973

Nigel Greenwood, London, UK

Konrad Fischer, Düsseldorf
 

1972

Konrad Fischer, Düsseldorf

Nigel Greenwood, London, UK

Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, UK

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
 

2024

Group Show, De Brock Gllery, Belgium
 

2022

Go Back to the Future, eac - Espace de l'Art Concret, Mouans-Sartoux, France

Line Up, Galerie Tschudi, Zurich, Switzerland
 

2021

Alan Carlton - Richard Long, Kunst Museum Winterthur, Switzerland

Varia, galerie jean brolly, Paris, France
 

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, France

Collection La composante Peintures, Frac Bretagne, Rennes, France

Painting with Method: Neoavantgarde Positions from the mumok Collection, Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna, Austria

Forms of Address, Laure Genillard Gallery, London, UK
 

2018

50 Years, 50 Artists, Annely Juda Fine Art, London, UK

Talk To Me / 25th Anniversary Exhibition, Von Linthel Gallery, Los Angeles, USA

UNTITLED (MONOCHROME) 1975-2017, Richard Taittinger Gallery, New York, USA
 

2017

Light/Dark, Annely Juda Fine Art, London, UK
 

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, Germany
 

2015

Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK
 

2014

Des Accords - 4 temps dans la collection Raymond Azibert, Les Abattoirs - Frac Midi-Pyrénées, Toulouse, France
 

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, Germany
 

2011

Alan Charlton / Ulrich Rückriem / Niele Toroni, Galleria A arte Studio Invernizzi, Milan, Italy

exploring abstraction, Galerie Tanit, Munich, Germany

... von privat, kunstraum no.10, Mönchengladbach, Germany

In Parallelo. Una Mostra. Tre Luoghi, Galleria A arte Studio Invernizzi, Milan, Italy

Strates Et Arts, Autour De Francois Morellet, Art Attitude Hervé Bize, Nancy, France
 

2010

one blue moment, Galerie Schütte, Essen, Germany

Galerie Tschudi, Zuoz, Switzerland

Painting, Process and Expansion, Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna, Austria

In-between Minimalisms, Play Van Abbe, Part 2: Time Machines, Stedelijk Van, Netherlands

Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, Netherlands

In-between Minimalisms & Free Sol Lewitt, Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, Netherlands

Print Works, Johyun Gallery, Seoul, South Korea

Fondamental Painting, Tate Britain, London, UK
 

2009

Minimal Shift, Galeria Jana Koniarka, Trnava, Slovakai

Ulrich Rückriem / Alan Charlton, Bernier-Eliades Gallery, Athens, Greece

Carl Andre / Balthasar Burkhard / Alan Charlton / Richard Long, Galerie Tschudi, Zuoz, Switzerland

Le Mythe du Monochrome, Espace de l'art concret, Mouans Sartoux, France

arte povera bis minimal – Einblicke in die Sammlung Lafrenz, Museum Wiesbaden, Germany

Visiones de Confin, Institut Valencia d'Art Modern, Valencia, Italy

Abstractions (1956-2006), Musee Fabre, Montpellier, France

Sammlung XXL, Kunstraum Alexander Bürkle, Freiburg, Germany
 

2008

Private / Corporate, V Daimler Contemporary, Berlin

Neue Ansichten – Die Sammlung zeitgenössischer Kunst, Museum Kurhaus, Kleve, Germany

A Room of One's Own, Museo d´arte contemporanea Castello di Rivoli, Turin, Italy

Review, Galerie Neu, Berlin

Alan Charlton und Balthasar Burkhard, Galerie Tschudi, Glarus, Switzerland

series sequence structure, Johyun Gallery, Busan, South Korea

Charlton, Long, Takeoka, Zeniuk, Galleri Opdahl, Stavanger, Norway
 

2007

Beziehungsweise, Galerie Hubert Winter, Vienna, Austria

Who's got the Big Picture?, Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Antwerp, Belgium

Andreas Stalzer - 20 Jahre Werkstatt für Kunstsiebdruck, Nö DOK für moderne Kunst, St. Pölten, Austria

Klio. Eine kurze Geschichte der Kunst in Euramerika nach 1945, ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany

Collezione La Gaia, CeSAC, Caraglio, Italy

Charlton / Förg / Martin / Toroni, Patrick de Brock Gallery, Knokke-Heist, Belgium

Balthasar Burkhard, Alan Charlton, Bethan Huws, Petra Wunderlich, Galerie Tschudi, Zuoz, Switzerland

Collectors 1 - Collezione La Gaia, Centro Sperimentale per le Arti Contemporanee, Caraglio, Italy

Collectie depot VBVR: Peter Struycken, Rijksmuseum Twenthe, Enschede, Netherlands
 

2006

Michael Biberstein, Alain Charlton, Glen Rubsamen, Galeria Miguel Marcos, Barcelona, Spain

regard 02: minimalismes, Espace de l'art concret, Mouans Sartoux, France

Alan Charlton & Lesley Foxcroft, Galerie Tschudi Glarus, Glarus, Switzerland

La collection de la Societé Génerale, Musée d'Art moderne de Saint-Etienne, Saint-Etienne, France

Galerie mit Bleistift Fischer - Papierarbeiten aus den 60er und 70er Jahren, Konrad Fischer Galerie, Düsseldorf

‘Horizontales Verticals Seules’, Musée de Pontoise, Pontoise, France

‘Dedica 1986-2006: vent’anni della galleria Alfonso Artiaco’, curated by J. Draganovic, Pan, Palazzo delle Arti Napoli, Naples, Italy
 

2005

Alan Charlton & David Tremlett, Galleria A arte Studio Invernizzi, Milan, Italy

collectie zomer 2005, de Zomer van Middelburg, Museum voor Hedendaagse Kunst, Antwerpen, Belgium

after all, constructing an artwork is still building a dream, Galerie Markus Richter, Berlin

Far from the Sea, Künstlerhaus Palais Thurn & Taxis, Bregenz, Austria

‘Grey Maze’ Basel Art Fair, Switzerland
 

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, Germany

Die Neue Galerie als Sammlung 1950 - Heute, Neue Galerie Graz, Universalmuseum Joanneum, Graz, Austria

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, USA
 

2003

New presentation of the collection (VI), Museum voor Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen, Antwerp, Belgium

Collectiepresentatie V - herfst 2003, Museum voor Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen, Antwerp, Belgium

Collection Display - Positions in Painting: 1970 - 1985, Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, Netherlands

Corso Terracciano 56, Alfonso Artiaco, Naples, Italy
 

2002

Dal colore al segno - Galleria A arte Studio Invernizzi, Milan, Italy

Eröffnungsausstellung der Galerie in Zuoz mit den Künstlern der Galerie, Galerie Tschudi, Zuoz, Switzerland

Blast to Freeze, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Germany

‘Colour – A Life of its Own’, Mucsarnok Kunstnalle, Budapest, Hungary

The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London, UK
 

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, France

Carl Andre / Alan Charlton / Niele Toroni, Centre d'Art Neuchatel, Neuchatel, Switzerland

Anstiftung zu einer neuen Wahrnehmung, Neues Museum Weserburg Bremen, Germany

Alan Charlton und Richard Long, Galerie Tschudi, Glarus, Switzerland

‘UK in the Seventies’, Liliane & Michel Durand-Dessert Gallery, Paris, France

‘Works on Paper from Acconci to Bittel’ Victoria Miro Gallery, London, UK

‘Geometrisk’ Konstruktiv Tendens, Stockholm, Sweden
 

2000

Minimal Affect - Selections from the Permanent Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami, USA

Art concret, Espace de l'art concret, Mouans Sartoux, France

Editionen, Galerie Edition Stalzer, Vienna, Austria

NEU 5th Anniversary, Galerie NEU, Berlin

Accord opposés, Centre d'art contemporain Bouvet Ladubay, Saumur, France
 

1999

collectie herfst 1999 (1), Museum voor Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen, Antwerp, Belgium

Heads Up - Highlights from the Permanent Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami, USA
 

1998

Galerie Tschudi, Glarus, Switzerland

‘Arterias’, Malmo Konsthall, Sweden
 

1997

Le bel aujourd, Institut d'art contemporain Villeurbanne/Rhône-Alpes, Villeurbanne, France

Die Erste Sammlung Zu Gast Im Kunsthaus Mürzzuschlag, Kunsthaus Merz, Mürzzuschlag, Austria

collection summer 1997, Museum voor Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen, Antwerp, Belgium

Vignate-Palazzo Municipale, Italy
 

1996

Selection from the collection, Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, Netherlands

colección permanente. novas incorporacións. colección fundación arco, Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

Monochromie - Geometrie, Sammlung Goetz, Munich, Germany
 

1995

Au rendez-vous des amis, coll. A. L'H., musée d'art moderne et contemporain, Geneva, Switzerland

Carl Andre / Alan Charlton / Hamish Fulton / Richard Long / Mario Merz / Ulrich Rückriem / Niele Toroni, Galerie Tschudi, Glarus, Switzerland

From Here, Gallery Karsten Schubert, London, UK
 

1994

Vue du collectionneur, Espace de l'art concret, Mouans Sartoux, France

L'hôtel Bouhier de Savigny reçoit le Frac, FRAC Bourgogne, Dijon, France

Visione Britannica II, Valentina Moncada Arte Contemporanea, Rome, Italy

Die Erste Sammlung von 1988 - 1994, Positionen Aktueller Kunst, Ausstellungsräume der Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien, Vienna, Austria

‘Punishment & Decoration’, Hohenthal und Bergen, Cologne, Germany

‘Conversation Pieces’, ICA, Philadelphia, USA

Dorrie + Priess, Hamburg, Germany (with Lesley Foxcroft and Jurgen Albrecht)
 

1993

Artists Choice / Works from the Collection, Southampton City Art Gallery, Southampton, UK

Leo Castelli, New York, USA

‘Marginal’, Galerie Sophia Ungers, Cologne, Germany

‘Espace Libere Espace de l’Art Concret’, Chateau de Mouans Aartoux, France

‘Singular Dimensions in Painting’, Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA
 

1992

Instructions and Diagrams, Victoria Miro Gallery, London, UK

Abstrakte Malerei zwischen Analyse und Synthese, Rosemarie Schwarzwälder, Vienna, Austria

Burnett Miller, Los Angeles, USA

Das offene Bild, Westfalisches Landesmuseum, Münster, Germany

‘La Realidad Desautorizada’, Gamarra Garrigues Gallery, Madrid, Spain
 

1990

Richard Tuttle & Alan Charlton, Victoria Miro Gallery, London, UK

Régions de dissemblance, Musée Départemental d'Art Contemporain de Rochechouart, Rochechouart, France

Liliane & Michel Durand-Dessert, Paris, France

‘Hommage aan Vincent van Gogh’, Haags Gemeente Museum, The Hague, Netherlands

Acquistions recentes, Pierre Huber, Geneva, Switzerland
 

1989

Mentalitäten und Konstruktionen in Arbeiten auf Papier, Rosemarie Schwarzwälder, Vienna, Austria

Domenico Bianchi / Alan Charlton / Günther Förg / Barbara Kruger / Toon Verhoef, Museo d'arte contemporanea Castello di Rivoli, Turin, Italy

Another Group Show, Galerie Hubert Winter, Vienna, Austria

Ulrich Ruckriem & Alan Charlton, Victoria Miro Gallery, London, UK

Prospect 89, Frankfurt, Germany

Galerie Nachst St. Stephan, Vienna, Austria
 

1984

At the Serpentine: Graeme Murray Gallery, Serpentine Gallery, London, UK

‘The British Art Show’: Birmingham, Edinburgh, Sheffield, Southampton, UK

Inaugural Exhibition, Castello di Rivoli, Torin, Italy

F. Becht Collection, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands

ROSC, Dublin, Ireland
 

1982

documenta 7, Kassel, Germany
 

1981

Through the summer, Lisson Gallery, London, UK
 

1980

Sammlung Panza (II), Kunsthalle Düsseldorf

‘New Spirit in Painting’, Royal Academy, London, UK

‘New Works of Contemporary Art & Music’, Fruit Market Gallery, Edinburgh, UK

Orchard Gallery, Londonderry, Northern Ireland
 

1979

Through the summer, Lisson Gallery, London, UK

‘Un Certain Art Anglais’, ARC, Musee d’Art Moderne de la ville de Paris, France

‘JPZ’, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium
 

1978

Summer Show, Lisson Gallery, London, UK

‘Fracture du Monochrome Aujourd’hui en Europe’, ARC, Musee d’Art Moderne de la ville de Paris, France
 

1977

Group Show, Lisson Gallery, London, UK

‘Cinq Jeune Artistes Anglais’, Culture de Metz Centre, Maison de la Culture de Bourges, France
 

1975

Fundamentele schilderkunst/Fundamental Painting, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
 

1974

Jo Baer / Alan Charlton / Bob Law / Robert Mangold / Bob Ryman, Lisson Gallery, London, UK

Painting Exhibition, Scottish Arts Council Gallery, Edinburgh, UK
 

1973

Eine Malerei-Ausstellung mit Malern, die die Malerei in Frage stellen könnten, Städtisches Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach, Germany

‘Prospect 73’, Kunsthalle Dusseldorf

‘7 Aus London’, Kunsthalle Bern, Switzerland
 

1972

Drawing, Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, UK

2019

Galerie Tschudi: Alan Charlton - It Started with a Chameleon

2008/2009

Kleve Museum Kurhaus: Alan Charlton. Kleve (cat.)

2007

Annely Juda Fine Art: Alan Charlton: Outline. London

2002

Mosset, O.: Carl Andre, Alan Charlton, Niele Toroni: une exposition au CAN - Centre d'art Neuchatel. Neuchatel (Catalogue)

1997

Schneider, E.: Follow me: britische Kunst an der Unterelbe. Stade (cat.)

1995

Galerie Stadtpark: Quad. Krems (cat.)

1994

Galeria Foksal: I Am An Artist Who Makes A Grey Painting. Warsaw

1992

Museum Haus Esters: Alan Charlton. Krefeld (cat.)

1991

ICA: Exhibition catalogue. London

Hallen für Neue Kunst. Schaffhausen (cat.)

The Paragon Press: 10 Grey Squares, Portfolio. London (cat.)

1989

Fuchs. R. H.: Domenico Bianchi, Alan Charlton, Günther Förg, Barbara Kruger, Toon Verhoef: Castello di Rivoli. Rivoli

Palais des Beaux-Arts & ARC, Musee d'Art Moderne: Invitation Cards and Installations Photographs of One-Man Exhibitions. Paris

Durand-Dessert: 50 Grey Books. Paris

1987

Musee St. Pierre: Corner Paintings 1986. Lyon  (cat.)

1985

John Hansard Gallery: Line Paintings 1983-85. Southampton (cat.)

1977

Lisson Gallery: 9 channel paintings, each exhibited simultaneously in 9 British city art galleries. London (cat.)

1975

Van Abbemuseum: Selected Paintings 1969-81. Eindhoven (cat.)

Museum of Modern Art, Oxford / Stedelijk Van Abbe-Museum, Eindhoven: Alan Charlton. Eindhoven (cat.)

Van Abbemuseum: Drawings of Paintings. Eindhoven

1973

Kunsthalle, Bern: Alan Charlton. Bern (cat.)

Huber, C.: 7 aus London. Bern (cat.)

Städtisches Museum, Mönchengladbach: Eine Malerei-Ausstellung mit Malern, die die Malerei in Frage stellen könnten. Mönchengladbach (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

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