Charles Karp is a southern California painter with a studio in Camarillo, California. 

Artist Statement 

 “As a painter I try to evoke the beauty and drama of our human condition and the natural world around us. Our lives combine both sorrow and joy. We live with transience and death, yet rejoice in love and beauty.  My goal is to create paintings that arouse a deep response in the viewer reflecting the complexity and beauty of our experience.” 

Contact 

cfkarp@gmail.com 

Artist Website 

www.charleskarp.com 

Exhibitions and Awards  

“Portrait of Chase” was selected in 2021 for inclusion in “The Next Big Thing”, an international exhibition curated  by Peter Mays, the Executive Director of the Los Angeles Art Association. The show opens October 2nd, 2021 at Studio Channel Islands in Camarillo, CA. 

While in residence at the American Academy in Romeas a Visiting Artist in 2019, and again in 2020, I painted a series of oil sketches inspired by ancient portrait busts of ancient Roman and Etruscan figures whose faces I found particularly expressive. In addition I was honored to paint portraits of Liana Brent and Victoria Moses, two Rome Prize winners in Ancient Studies, for the Academy’s archival gallery of Rome Prize recipients. 

“Aurora” was chosen by juror Kristine Schomaker for inclusion in the 2019 Collectors Choice Exhibition at Studio Channel Islands. 

Two of my paintings, ”Eye of the Beholder” and ”Putting Beauty on a Pedestal”, were selected in 2018 by distinguished artist and juror Dan McCaw for inclusion in The Winter Show at the Palos Verdes Art Center, California. 

“Notre Dame La Nuit” was chosen in 2018 by distinguished juror Daniel Foster for inclusion in the Annual National Exhibition ”BlackOut” sponsored by the Ashton Gallery / Art on 30th in San Diego, California.  

“Notre Dame La Nuit” was selected by distinguished juror Peter Frank for inclusion in “The NEXT Big Thing 2018” exhibition at Studio Channel Islandsin Camarillo, CA.  

” Sky” was chosen by juror Carol Henry for inclusion in the 2018 Collectors Choice exhibition at Studio Channel Islands .  

“Flowers for Yorick” was selected by juror Hiroko Yoshimoto for the ”Good Things Come  in Small Packages” exhibition held in December, 2017 at Studio Channel Islands. 

“Martini in Waiting” was selected by juror Scott Canty, former Director of the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, for inclusion in the 12th annual “2017 California Open”, a national exhibition at the Tag Gallery in Los Angeles, CA. 

The Way of All Flesh” and “Madame Will See You Now”, were selected in 2017 by juror Tish Greenwood, Executive Director, California Museum of Art Thousand Oaks (CMATO), for inclusion in “The Next Big Thing”, an art show held annually at Studio Channel Islands. 

“Machiavelli’s Daughter” and  “Degas’ Little Dancer” were selected in 2016 for The 11th Annual California Open, a national exhibition curated by Kent Twitchell at the TAG Gallery in Santa Monica, CA. 

“Degas’ Little Dancer” and “The Tree Beseeches the Sky”, were selected in 2016 by juror Peter Mays, the Executive Director of the Los Angeles Art Association, for inclusion in “The Next Big Thing”, an annual exhibition held at Studio Channel Islands. 

“Eve’s First Sunrise – the color study” was selected in 2016 by juror Jason Horejs for the “Collectors Choice” exhibition at Studio Channel Islands. 

“Death’s Angel” was selected in 2015 by juror Moses Mora for the “Spirits, Souls and the Next Journey” show at Studio Channel Islands. 

“Eve’s First Sunrise” was selected in 2015 by juror Lois Lambert for the “Over Your Sofa” show at Studio Channel Island’s Blackboard Gallery. 

“Eye of the Beholder” was selected from over 2,000 entries as a finalist in Southwest Art magazine’s “Artistic Excellence” competition and appeared in the December  2014 edition. 

“Putting Beauty on a Pedestal” and “Girl with her Pet Silkie Chicken” were selected in 2014 for the juried show “Clothing Optional” at Studio Channel Islands. 

“Martini in Waiting” was selected in 2014 for the juried artist member show “Creme de la Creme” at tStudio Channel Islands. 

“Eye of the Beholder” was selected in 2014 for the juried show “Less is More” at Studio Channel Islands, and won one of three Best in Show awards.  

Promenade” was selected in 2013 for the juried show Precious: Small Works” at the Studio Channel Islands. 

Bone Deep Essence” was selected in 2013 for the juried show Essence” at the Studio Channel Islands. 

“Sun Sets on the King” was selected in 2012 for permanent display in the office of the President of Il Leone, a distinguished manufacturing company in Florence, Italy. 

“High Noon at the Huntington Museum” was chosen by the California Art Club for a juried show in 2009 at the historic Blinn House in Pasadena. 

“Tower of Dreams” was placed on long term display in 2009 in the office of the President of California State University Channel Islands. 

“High Noon at the Huntington Museum” won the Juror’s Choice Award for the 2008 juried show of the Santa Barbara Art Association. 

“Self Portrait” was selected for the 2008 juried June show of the Santa Barbara Art Association. 

“Sun Sets on the King” was selected for exhibition in the 2008 Members Best show at Studio Channel Islands. 

“Self Portrait” and “Morning Light” were both selected for the juried exhibition at the 2007  Members Best show at Studio Channel Islands. 

A number of other portrait, landscape and still life paintings are in private collections in California, Hawaii, Oregon, and internationally in Rome and Florence, Italy. 

Training 

 Although I drew enthusiastically as a teenager, I received no formal art training. After pursuing other career goals, I moved to southern California and began painting in 2007. I sought out accomplished painters in the area who were teaching in a traditional atelier style. I am grateful to each of the teachers that have mentored and inspired me: Ignat Ignatov, Michael Siegel, David Gallup, Jeremy Lipking, Sean Cheetham, Noble Powell, Tony Pro, Ron Lemen and Johanna Spinks,