Artist
Statement:
Charlie Lyon paints palm trees that bend and sway under swirling clouds.
Charlie’s paintings are playful representations of palm trees that
trigger a personal narrative for each person. The paintings remind everyone
of that special time spent looking at a palm tree fluttering in the
trade winds. We remember relaxing in the breeze while watching the clouds
roll by. The paintings mix with our own experience and become imbedded
with our individual memory.
His paintings are meditations on movement. The clouds sail by, changing,
lingering, drifting away, while the tree clatters softly. He paints
the sky first; spreading, smearing, pushing the paint, until a source
of light dominates and a level of movement presents itself. He looks
for interesting features of the light and seeks them out with the tree.
The created tension causes movement toward, away, and back to those
features. He creates the illusion of movement by emphasizing these points
of subdued passion. He creates portraiture with the same
approach, working with the subject until they shed the pose and reveal
their character. This has led Charlie to new mediums, the latest
being a redwood surfboard that his subject hand crafted. He was
able to draw the subject out of the board just as the subject pulled
the surfboard from the wood.
When Charlie’s not in the studio, he’s at the beach, where
he surfs on all types of boards. If there are no waves to surf,
he can be found sailing or paddling an outrigger canoe. “My
art has always paid for my lifestyle,” he says, “but now my
art is the result of my lifestyle. When I started this body of
work, I was looking to streamline my existence, so I did things like
stop watching TV. I grew up with the TV on. I decided to
turn it off. Without the constant bombardment on my senses, I
was able to have more of my own creative thoughts. I started seeing
colors better and feeling less anxious. It’s simple.”
Similarly, he wants people to slow down when they view his paintings.
“A single palm tree,” he says, “is like a whisper heard
through a crowd.”
