About Charley
Harper
In a style he
called minimal realism, Charley Harper captured the essence of his subjects with the fewest possible visual elements. When asked to describe his unique visual style, Charley responded:
When I look
at a wildlife or nature subject, I don’t see the feathers
in the wings, I just count the wings. I see exciting shapes,
color combinations, patterns, textures, fascinating behavior
and endless possibilities for making interesting pictures.
I regard the picture as an ecosystem in which all the elements
are interrelated, interdependent, perfectly balanced, without
trimming or unutilized parts; and herein lies the lure of
painting; in a world of chaos, the picture is one small
rectangle in which the artist can create an ordered universe.
He contrasted
his nature-oriented artwork with the realism of John James
Audubon, drawing influence from Cubism, Minimalism, Einsteinian
physics and countless other developments in Modern art and
science. His style distilled and simplified complex organisms
and natural subjects, yet they are oftentimes arranged in
a complex fashion. On the subject of his simplified forms,
Harper noted:
I don't think
there was much resistance to the way I simplified things.
I think everybody understood that. Some people liked it
and others didn't care for it. There's some who want to
count all the feathers in the wings and then others who
never think about counting the feathers, like me.
The results are
bold, colorful, and often whimsical. The designer Todd Oldham
wrote of Harper, "Charley’s inspired yet accurate
color sense is undeniable, and when combined with the precision
he exacts on rendering only the most important details,
one is always left with a sense of awe." Charley, on
numerous examples, also went outside the medium of graphic
art and included short prose poems for the artwork he made.
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Charley Harper
August 4, 1922 - June 10, 2007
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The world lost Charley Harper in 2007 - he is, and shall be, missed by many. |
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