Today we’d like to introduce you to Charly Palmer.
Charly, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I’ve have always had an absolute love of art before I’ve had any thought of making a living doing it. My story is about being black, being me, and so I don’t know if that’s being unique. The journey has been the same. I decided in high school I wanted to go into art. I went to art college, I went to the American Academy of Art in Chicago. Initially, I wanted to be an illustrator because I was fascinated by movie posters and album cover designs. That shifted to fine art because I felt it was the only way I could really express myself.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
A love of black people. Everything I create is about the celebration of blackness, and so I look at it from different perspectives. I often pose a question opposed to necessarily having an answer. As an artist, I ask a question instead of making a statement; and that’s why it’s difficult as an artist to make an artist statement.
I think of the last body work I created as the first. I make it personal a statement. I have an AHA moment. The last idea was that I am truly an introvert — that I absolutely love being by myself most of the time, and so this work was about the shyness and navigating this world as a shy person. And how weird that might be to a person who might not get it.
So, the journey is always connected to my fascination with the black narrative, the African African American story, that everything has a history or political take to it. I recently stepped back from that whole approach because I realized, as a black person, the only people who are going to truly care about those stories is other black people. I felt I was preaching to a choir, so now I focus on just how beautiful we are.
What do you know now that you wished you had learned earlier?
Being an artist comes with challenges. It’s always great to have a good agent or someone who represents your work. But, what I always tell young people is, if you do what you love you’ll never work a day in your life.
Don’t focus on the money. Be motivated by creating something from nothing and so I think is very helpful is to kind of be driven by the idea that it might not always be easy, but it will be worth it. Don’t be motivated by the money.
Create what best expresses who you are, and don’t also don’t be attached to how people might interpret what you’re creating because everybody has their own experiences and life experiences — so they may not get from it what you would hope they get from it. They’re going to get something from it the and that’s the whole point: create something that moves people. I say that to say, it may not always move them in a very positive way, but to get them to respond is the whole purpose of why you create art.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
The easiest way is to go to my website: charlypalmer.com There you can see upcoming and new work. My work can also be seen locally in Atlanta at Zucot Gallery in Castleberry Hills; and I am currently on exhibit there. Also, I have a studio space in the West End. I’m located at Westview Studio lofts at 1450 Ralph David Abernathy. You can always find me and my work there.
Contact Info:
- Address: Westview Studios 1350 Ralph David Abernathy
Atlanta, GA, - Website: Charlypalmer.com
- Phone: 4046645328
- Email: mammadear@earhlink.net
- Instagram: @charlylpalmer
- Facebook: Charly Palmer
Image Credit:
Kayashoots
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