Having had a preview of Charley Baines’s work at a recent Saturday morning HIVE Jive event, David Simper was keen to see her exhibition launch and caught the service 61 bus down Hive despite a minor blizzard. He was well rewarded by the work on show in the downstairs cafe area.
On entering HIVE, the room was already full of people. This was in fact a dual exhibition with Charley’s work downstairs and a display of children’s artwork upstairs. Several of the child artists and their parents were there and were able to participate in the event. The children’s art is of a high standard and shows we have great artistic promise for the future
Charley Baines is a former Blackpool Sixth Form student who brought her work to the HIVE Arts collective, which immediately recognised its quality and placed this event in its calendar. One of her pieces – Dark Beauty, John Paul Baines – a portrait of her father, was selected from 21,000 entries for the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition 2024 in London. This exhibition includes new work.
A screen and projector was set up at the end of the room which Charley used to set the context for her work and the stories behind individual pieces, in what was at times an emotional presentation.
The work is quite stunning. I am not going to add the qualification ‘for an 18 year old’, it is just stunning. However, I would add, if this is now, what work will be produced in the future? Charley is going to study physics and maths at degree level and I sincerely hope that the art continues alongside this.
Charley’s pieces are large and striking (too big for my little house unfortunately, which prevents me thinking about buying one). An explanatory note provides context for each piece. The composition is always excellent, as is the mark making, use of light and shade and colour palette. A great deal of love and emotional commitment has gone into these pieces and it really shines out of the paintings. My personal favourite – a young man stood in a kitchen – showed good perspective, despite the small subject space (no roads or rivers running into the distance), giving a distinct 3d effect. Three people independently noted the influence of Lucian Freud in this work and I followed this up when I spoke to Charley about her work, its inspiration and the future.
Your work is incredibly well executed and very mature, can you tell me what the overarching vision behind it is?
“This exhibition’s called Please Believe Me and what I’m trying to tell or project is the need to give space for conversations, far from reality, and present them through the canvas.”
There seems to be a Lucian Feud influence to your work; is that right and what would you describe your other influences as?
“I studied Lucian Freud for a while. Paula Rego and Jenny Saville are also influences. My favourite honestly is Mark Laita, an American photographer. His photography career was with Apple where he created sleek white backgrounds with the phones. Then he switched it up: he’d been amassing pictures of people in Chicago – astronauts, ballerinas, KKK members – taking pictures of them all, formal portraits of all these people and he compiled them into a book, Created Equal and then he did another called Soft White Underbelly. These are really interesting projects to me and I think I channel some of his energy in my art.”
I’m aware that you are planning to study physics and maths at degree level; do you think you will take that path for a career, turn to art, or a combination of the two?
“This is a very good question and it’s difficult to predict the future. My prediction is that these two subjects can create something beautiful, given that I truly put my best efforts in, so they will be complementary, I definitely think so. When it comes to artistic thinking, I think a lot of people at the top of society could do with doing some.”
One of your pieces was exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts, which at the age of 17 is an incredible achievement; can you tell me how that came about?
“It was on the last day of a competition in school, my teacher suggested that I apply for the young artist summer show. It was at the time when my career was picking up and I actually forgot until the end of the week and then I thought, oh I need to submit that. I did and it came through. I don’t know whether I was shell-shocked. The whole point of the piece they picked was part of a rebellious manifesto against a society that wants to erase issues like addiction, mental illness and not see people in the brunt of the battle. And then I see my Dark Beauty painting hung in a place like the Royal Academy: I honestly still don’t know what to feel or think.”
Is your family artistic and if so, how has that enabled your artistic development?
“My step dad is a carpenter; I think that falls under the category of art. My dad was also an engineer. I think people end up doing art for a multitude of things inside them and that’s extremely vague. To be more specific, I think it’s our experiences that draw us to study. I don’t think creativity is possessed by a select group of people, it’s a human attribute.”
Thanks to Charley for speaking to me and for the insights into her work. All the best as you move forward in your various fields.
As ever thanks to the HIVE team. Having waited patiently to get the necessary photo of Charley with her work (she was in heavy demand from adoring fans), I retired to get the convenient service 6 bus home.
Blackpool has produced a fine and rare talent in Charley Baines. Congratulations on this work and I’m sure we are all looking forward to what you will produce in the future.
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