Works on Canvas

Charles Guerin's work as as a painter has been informed by two things, his direct experience on the land in remote places in Colorado, Wyoming, Arizona and the Adirondack and his interest in photography and its special  monocular capability of capturing the landscape from a unique visual perspective.  As his drawings deal with Cliche, so do his paintings, as the genre of painting landscapes is as old as painting itself.  Like the drawings, these landscapes strive to bring the practice of landscape painting into the 20th and 21st Centuries by applying approaches and sensibilities informed by the history of modern art and an understanding that realism as explored today can be achieved with entirely different aesthetic effect and motivation.  His contemporary photo realist landscape painting process uses photography as a sketchbook, collecting, managing and altering images with lenses and the computer to provide subject matter and inspiration for the finished paintings.  These works of art do not deny the influences of the camera and lenses, rather they rejoice in them and their ability to create drama and uniquely abstract compositions and colors to paint from.     

The varying series of paintings shown below explore different approaches and environments in different ways.  Some are single canvases (Wyoming and Colorado suites), others are multiple canvases or "shots" of a single place over time (Medicine Bow Suite) and others are studio still life paintings of the process of painting landscapes (Studio Suite).  These paintings are acrylic and RHOPLEX on canvas, and some are acrylic watercolor on paper as seen in the Colorado Suite.