Charlie Billingham - Hunting Dogs Hunting Cats
Marcelle Joseph Projects proudly presents Hunting Dogs, Hunting Cats, the first solo exhibition of paintings by English artist Charlie Billingham. The exhibition is open from Thursday, 15th November 2012 - Sunday, 13th January 2013.
With a touch of humour, Billingham’s paintings parody caricatures of 18th and 19th century political and social satirists, such as James Gillray and George Cruikshank. The main subjects of Billingham’s works are often minor characters and animals from the referenced cartoons, cropped and enlarged and portrayed in splashy colour combinations. For the viewer, this medley of perspective, composition and colour results in playful surprise and offers a contemporary portrayal of 18th and 19th century subjects. For this series of twelve oil on canvas paintings, Billingham depicts images of dogs and cats inspired by his stay at Great Fosters, a historic hunting lodge, earlier this year.
When asked about his colour choices, Charlie says, ‘I look out for colour combinations in my day to day life which appeal to me, and then use them in my paintings; these are often from clothes I've seen people wear, interiors in magazines, colours in other people's paintings and artworks, food, TV, etc.’
Born in 1984 in the UK, Charlie Billingham has been living and working in London since 2008, the year he finished his joint BA Art History/MA Fine Arts degree at the Edinburgh College of Art. Charlie is currently a third-year post-graduate student at the Royal Academy Schools in London. His works have been exhibited at group shows in 2012 at the Premiums Interim Projects show, Royal Academy, London; ROOM Gallery, London; New End Gallery, London and Liquid Courage Gallery, Nassau, Bahamas; and in 2011 at Aubin Gallery, London, the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy and the Café Gallery at the Royal Academy. His second solo show in the UK will take place in November 2013 at the Ceri Hand Gallery.
Click on each image to view it at a larger size, or see all the images in a slideshow.