![\"umbrella-schizophrene\"](\"http://skullcull.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/umbrella-schizophrene.jpg\")
![\"enigma-and-child\"](\"http://skullcull.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/enigma-and-child.jpg\")
![\"self](\"http://skullcull.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/7_6591large.jpg\")
I have my wife to thank for finding this artist, and is often the case nowadays it was an accidental stumbling across him while looking for something else online. I looked over and there he was, or rather there his work was on the screen and it was instantly eye-catching and the stories behind each piece of work were captivating.
It is a melancholy thing though to find an artist and then to learn that they committed suicide, but at least there is the gift of their work that they have left the world, and Charnley has a good body of work. He deserves to be better known than he is. There is lots to explore of both a visual and a notional nature within each painting — they are at once visually arresting and possessed of a compelling narrative.
Please, go and have a look: http://www.bryancharnley.info
Terence Charnley
August 3, 2008 at 8:43 pmThanks for your appreciation of Bryan’s work and your perceptive comments. I think his position as someone who experienced schizophrenia and yet was able to comment on it lucidly and transform it into imagery hasn’t been reallly appreciated. Unfortunately anyone with mental illness tends to be negated in every sense. Still the work is there and does what art is supposed to do.