About
Charles grew up in Eltham in South East London before attending Magdalen College Oxford to read Chemistry. He was awarded the University prize for organic chemistry before moving to the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, where he graduated with a first class degree. He has since graduated from the sculpture department at the Royal College of Art with distinction, and completed a PhD at Oxford University exploring the construction of complex cosmological systems in medieval alchemy, modern physics and outsider art.
Charles often works in dialogue with academics in both the humanities and sciences, including long standing projects, such as with physicist Dr Daniel Crow, as well as in collaboration with composers, musicians and stage directors, writing new texts and designing shows. These projects have found homes with opera companies like Gothic Opera and MetroWest Opera, ensembles like Grand Harmonie, and within institutions such as the Ashmolean and the Victoria and Albert Museum
He was shortlisted for the 2011 Red Mansion Prize and the 2011 Saatchi New Sensations Prize, and produced work for the critically acclaimed Pizza Pavilion at the 2015 Venice Biennale. In 2018 Charles was selected as a Bogliasco Fellow, to develop a libretto for a new opera by composer Liam Wade exploring the rise of populism through the lens of a love affair with professional wrestling.
Selected Shows
2019
Gothic Opera, Der Vampyr, October-November
Art Metropole Toronto (in association with the Fuller Lecture Series), GOD IS PIZZA, June
Delaware Valley Opera Company, Rondine, (objects), June
Graduate Centre, CUNY, Le Roman de Fauvel (coll. with Christopher Preston Thomas), March
2018
The White Box Gallery, The Ascent of Man, June
Grand Harmonie Opera, On Behalf of a Madman, (stage play), May
CRASSH, University of Cambridge, Reality Machines, March
NWR Forum Dusseldorf, presentation of Pizza Parlance, March
Stowe Gallery, Ordering the Cosmos, January
2017
The Old Truman Brewery, A Pint of Science, May
Metrowest Opera, La Femme Boheme, May
Noformat Gallery, Three100, April
KI International, Biophilia, April
2016
Society for the Humanities, Cornell University, A Theory Fiction Music Show, May
Bel Cantanti Opera, L’Elisir d’Amore, March
2015
STORE contemporary, Pizza Parlance, September
The Quennington Sculpture Trust, Fresh Air 2015, June
Pizza Pavilion, Venice, Pizza Parlance, May
The Gerard Moore Gallery, Orbits and Occults, April – June
Museum of the History of Science, Dreams of Homunculi, March- June
The Max Planck Institute, Dresden, Circling the Square, February
2014
Cornell University, Hypoxia (performance work), November
The Crypt Gallery, ILLUNINATION, June
The Old Royal Naval College, Modern Makers, May,
2013
NoFormat Gallery, Three Fields, Feb
The Hanmi Gallery, The Beautiful is Present, January
2012
The Ashmolean Museum, In-Site, June
Oxford Botanic Gardens, Sustainability, April/May
Gloucester Cathedral, Open West, March
2011
Victoria House, New Sensations, October
Blyth Gallery, Artifact, Sep
RCA Sculpture, Degree show, Jun
Waterloo Action Centre Gallery, FODO, May
2010
Departure Gallery, Rhizomatic, October,
Victoria and Albert Museum, Rapid Form, Jul,
Five Years Gallery at Bethnal Green Library, Reflectures, Jun, – performance lecture event pairing artists with research academics (also co-curated).
Triumph, Clerkenwell Festival, Jun,
RCA, Painting Project Space, Performance//Lecture, Mar, – performance lecture event (also curated)
RCA, Henry Moore Galleries, Work in Progress, May