Charlotte Snook: Studio Paintings and Other Stories

About

Charlotte Snook combines her knowledge of art history and insight into human nature with a free-roaming imagination to create complex artworks. She takes Breugel, Poussin, Claude and 17th century Flemish art as a starting point for her paintings which can be as edgy as they are exquisite. Her art allows for the apocalyptic nature of the world. ‘They are concerned with a loss of paradise,’ Charlotte says. ‘It’s all about the painting: light, colour, contrast, the composition and brushstrokes. I try to set a narrative without there being one.’

This exhibition of paintings and drawings reflects Charlotte’s packed and varied year: she was asked to respond to the permanent collection of Hastings Museum and drew on the pastoral porcelain figures as well as the faces of Christian missionaries gazing out from early 20th century photographs. She painted landscapes and studio scenes in Verrocchio, Italy. Her work was included in Axis: London Milano alongside artists including the Chapman Brothers. She was invited to exhibit at Jerwood Gallery, Hastings as part of To Be Continued exhibition. The show, presented by Sarah O’Kane Contemporary Fine Art, bring together both the imaginative and the observational aspects of Charlotte’s work.

Charlotte’s work has been included in the Jerwood Drawing Prize from 1995–99, the Hunting Prize and the Garrick/Milne Prize. Solo exhibitions include Rare Affairs at the Basement Gallery, Boise, Idaho (USA) and Hastings Museum and Art Gallery. Charlotte studied painting at Hornsey College of Art and the Royal College of Art. In her academic career she has taught part-time at art schools and universities throughout England, and from 2001–9 was Senior Lecturer in Visual Communication (Foundation) at Central Saint Martins.