CHARLY JUPITER HAMILTON
Charles Jupiter Hamilton creates captivating acrylic canvases, hand-built sculptures, carved and painted wood wall reliefs and self pulled block prints that combine the vitality of contemporary art with a rich and resonant figurative imagery. Highly expressive and known for a satirical visual humor; his conflicting colors, elaborate patterns and painterly casualness, come together in a kind of "new world primitivism." Charly's popular visions of an art life are laced with his gonzo enthusiasm, child like mischief, and an eye full of wild weather.
His art seduces the viewers, encouraging them to search past the work's surface, beyond the intricacy of the design, to reveal images within images: animated figures, crooked visions of the world, snakes, fish and his trademark, dogs and demons. it's a teeming spectacle. It's the Big Idea, that goes straight to the nervous system.
Some of Charly Hamilton's many influences include; growing up on a small dairy farm with a Hungarian mother, brother and strong headed sisters; his travels and service as a Gunner's Mate Petty Officer with the U.S. Navy, a spotty education at UNC-Chapel Hill; painting and bumming around in Mexico, Central America, India and the United States; and his many years at home among the "wildlife" of West 'By God' VIrginia.
The source of a documentary film, and with a personal history as interesting as his art, Hamilton has had a long career in creating art that is always new and unexpected. His work has received a warm recognition in and beyond the borders of West Virginia, and has won many prizes and awards. His art has been exhibited and collected in Charleston, Boston, NYC, Tampa, Miami, San Diego, Raleigh, L.A., Savannah, Atlanta, Baltimore and Chicago. It adorns offices, museums and homes around the world. It's been stolen for it's looks, added to album covers and poetry books, it's on the sound stage of WV Public Radio's Mountain Stage, has been used for numerous social causes, fund raisers and T-Shirt designs, and some say, spontaneously combusted to burn down Mr. Greg Carroll's house.