Charles Basham 2015

CHARLES BASHAM

Charles Basham received his B.F.A. and M.F.A. from Kent State University in his native state of Ohio, where he still resides on the family farm. He has been making art for over forty years, and, as a result, has enjoyed much acclaim for his visually stimulating and emotionally charged landscapes. In this new series of pastels and oil paintings, Basham captures dramatic and compelling moments of indirect morning and evening light, heightened through bold colors such as magenta, gold, lemon, emerald and turquoise. The natural vistas he portrays escape contextual clues that would place it in a specific time and place, sharing with audiences an enhanced version of the universal experience of being outdoors. This is the artist’s 20th solo exhibition with the gallery.

Cover: WRECKAGE 2014

Charles Basham, Family Farm, Medina, Ohio

Oil on Linen 18 x 24 inches

CHARLES BASHAM Wor l d o f Change

May 2 - June 20, 2015

625 South Sharon Amity Road Charlotte, NC 28211 704.365.3000 gallery@jeraldmelberg.com www.jeraldmelberg.com

FIRST FLICKER 2015 Oil on Linen 56 x 70 inches

HELIANTHUS 2015 Oil on Linen 24 x 60 inches

ADIRONDACKS 2014 Oil on Linen 12 x 16 inches

CROOKED CREEK 2014 Oil on Linen 16 x 18 inches

COLDER LIGHT OF MORNING 2014 Oil on Canvas 36 x 40 inches

GARDEN LOST (AM) 2014 Pastel on Paper 11 x 13 1/2 inches

GARDEN LOST (PM) 2014 Pastel on Paper 11 x 13 1/2 inches

SYCAMORE ALLEY 2014 Pastel on Paper 9 x 11 1/2 inches

SYCAMORES, MID AUGUST 2014 Oil on Linen 12 x 15 inches

FLICKER 2014 Oil on Linen 20 x 24 inches

END OF SEASON 2014 Pastel on Paper 7 x 17 1/2 inches

Study for HELIANTHUS 2014 Pastel on Paper 7 x 17 1/2 inches

AUTUMN GIRASOL 2014 Oil on Linen 12 x 24 inches

MALACITE (DUSK) 2015 Oil on Linen 36 x 60 inches

MORNING SHORLE ROAD 2014 Pastel on Paper 8 7/8 x 17 5/8 inches

VIRIDIAN THUNDERHEAD 2014 Pastel on Paper 8 7/8 x 17 5/8 inches

AN UNNATURAL COLOR 2014 Oil on Linen 22 x 24 inches

EVENING DAY SHADE 2015 Oil on Linen 48 x 60 inches

COLD FRONT 2013 Oil on Canvas 36 x 48 inches

AURORA 2015 Oil on Linen 36 x 47 inches

FIRST GLIMMER 2014 Pastel on Paper 9 x 11 5/8 inches

OVERCAST AT NOON 2014 Pastel on Paper 9 x 11 5/8 inches

BREWSTER ST. YARD (LATE AFTER) 2014 Pastel on Paper 9 x 11 5/8 inches

THE DUSK 2014 Pastel on Paper 9 x 11 5/8 inches

GOURDS 2015 Pastel on Paper 26 1/2 x 33 inches

BRANCH OF THE TUCKASEGEE 2014 Pastel on Paper 9 x 11 5/8 inches

DARK BANK 2014 Pastel on Paper 11 x 13 1/2 inches

GROVE ON SILHOUETTE 2014 Pastel on Paper 11 x 13 1/2 inches

HIGH MAGENTA 2014 Pastel on Paper 11 x 13 1/2 inches

VORTEX 2014 Oil on Linen 12 x 15 inches

EXPANDING FIELD 2014 Pastel on Paper 11 x 13 1/2 inches

EMBERED SKY 2014 Pastel on Paper 11 x 13 1/2 inches

AN EARLY GLOW 2014 Pastel on Paper 9 x 11 1/2 inches

ROLLING FIRE 2014 Pastel on Paper 11 x 13 1/2 inches

HUBBARD LAKE, PASTURES BEYOND 2014 Pastel on Paper 14 x 17 1/2 inches

Paul Cezanne once said, “I don’t do anything I don’t see and whatever I paint exists.” Of course, what he chose to see helped to define his work. This is true of what I am looking for in my own work. I often select moments that are filled with visual tension, such as early morning and early evening. At these times there are stronger contrasts in light and color that lean toward the abstract and I can capitalize on the phenomenon of the moment. I have more allowances to push color from its local nature. But regardless of the time of day, the places and the things I choose to paint are real and exist and not imagined or idealized or sentimentalized. I painted these places, not because they symbolize change, but for their character and atmosphere. My concerns are distinctly different from nineteenth century landscape painters such as Thomas Cole and Frederic Church. The land is not new and wild; it has been shaped and reshaped by man for years. And my attitude to it is always changing in shape and color and direction. Color has always been a consideration in my work that drawing and painting from the landscape has intensified and clarified. The basis for any color sense is derived not only from nature but also from studying painters. Sublime colorists like Courbet, Cezanne, Monet and Matisse have shaped my sensibilities; more contemporary painters like Fairfield Porter and Rackstraw Downes have revealed the subtlety of tonalities. I am drawn to nearly any color experience in paintings that I can add to my understanding and utilization of color in my own work and assist my interpretation of nature.

-Charles Basham

625 South Sharon Amity Road Charlotte, NC 28211 704.365.3000 gallery@jeraldmelberg.com www.jeraldmelberg.com