Alan Charlton

Alan Charlton is a leading British conceptual artist and one of the foremost figures in British art from the post-war period.

Biography of Alan Charlton

Alan Charlton was born in 1948 in Sheffield, UK. He attended Sheffield School of Art, Camberwell School of Art, and the Royal Academy Schools in London.

Since graduating from the Royal Academy of Art in 1972, he has focused exclusively on creating monochrome paintings in various shades of grey. That same year, in 1972, he had his first solo exhibitions at Whitechapel Art Gallery in London.

Charlton's work has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions worldwide. His exhibitions span prominent galleries and museums, highlighting his contributions to the field of conceptual art and establishing his reputation as a significant figure in contemporary art.

His solo exhibitions include "alan charlton" at Gallery Shilla in Seoul and Daegu (2023), "Divided Trapezium Paintings" at Ceysson & Bénétière in Lyon (2023), "Trapezium Paintings" at Galerie Tschudi in Zürich (2022), "Trapezium" at A Arte Invernizzi in Milan (2022), "Painted / Unpainted" at Konrad Fischer Galerie in Düsseldorf (2021), and many more.

Additionally, Charlton's paintings have been showcased in group shows at various galleries and museums around the globe, including  Noire Gallery in Turin, Galerie Tanit in Munich, Slewe Gallery in Amsterdam, Galerie Kamel Mennour in Paris, Espace de l’Art Concret Centre d’art contemporain in Mouans-Sartoux, Bibliothèque National de France in Paris, Laure Genilard Gallery in London, Institute of Contemporary Art in Miami, among others.

Alan Charlton's Art Style

The formal principles of Charlton's work are straightforward: canvases painted in grey, executed without visible brushstrokes or painterly gestures, and formats divisible in height, width, and depth by a factor of 4.5. Even the gaps in multi-part works or the blank spaces in the so-called Channel Paintings adhere to this fundamental measurement.

He initially selected grey for its mundane quality but quickly realized that the color possessed unique characteristics. As a result, the paintings are more expressive than they might first seem. The immaculate surfaces are disrupted by form, and rhythm is created through broken repetition.

Each painting is meticulously planned by Charlton, who oversees every aspect of its production. He personally orders the wood slats for the stretcher frames, cuts them to size, assembles them, attaches the canvas, paints it grey, constructs a custom transport box, and finally packages the work.