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 CambridgeReality 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 OperaL’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, DresdenCircling 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 GalleryArtifact, Sep

RCA SculptureDegree show, Jun

Waterloo Action Centre GalleryFODO, May

2010      

Departure GalleryRhizomatic, October,

Victoria and Albert MuseumRapid Form, Jul,

Five Years Gallery at Bethnal Green LibraryReflectures, Jun, – performance lecture event pairing artists with research academics (also co-curated).

Triumph, Clerkenwell Festival, Jun,

RCA, Painting Project SpacePerformance//Lecture, Mar, – performance lecture event (also curated)

RCA, Henry Moore Galleries, Work in Progress, May