CV
1966-7 / Foundation / Maidenhead College of Art
1967-70 Dip AD Course / Leeds College of Art
2002-4 MA Philosophy Open University
Selected exhibitions:
2026 / Brampton Museum / Stoke on Trent / group exhibition
2025 / OS group exhibition / Frome
2022 / Rugby Open / group exhibition
2019 / Coventry Open / group exhibition
2018 / Colour Radicals / solo exhibition / Rugby Art Gallery
2016 / John Moores Painting Prize / group exhibition / Walker Art Gallery / Liverpool
2014 / Signs Of Disorder / solo exhibition / Rugby Art Gallery
2011 / Motel Knadski /Trajector Art Fair / Contributing Artist / Brussels
2011 / Kiss Me Quick / group exhibition / Harbour Arm Gallery / Margate
2011 / Airvent /AirSpace Gallery/ solo exhibition / Stoke-on-Trent
2010 / There Is Beauty In The City / group exhibition / Ezcurdia_30 Galler / Gijon / Spain
2009 / The Instability of Spaces / solo exhibition / AirSpace Dialogue Box
2010 / Common Ground /AirSpace group exhibition / Stoke-on-Trent
2009 / Inter?ogation / Collaboration / Walsall New Art Gallery.
2009 / Marina Abramovich / group participant / Whitworth Gallery / Manchester.
2009 / Aftermath / AirSpace studio artists / Leek Institute / Leek
2008 / Short Cuts /group exhibition / AirSpace Gallery / Stoke-on-Trent
2008 / Salon / D2 Gallery / Leipzig / Germany
Bio
Bernard Charnley is an English painter born in 1948 in Reading and now based in Frome, Somerset. Charnley trained in graphics and painting at Leeds College of Art. His interest and study in philosophy led to graduating from the Open University with his MA. This informs his body of work which, through distinct series and ranging across the figurative and abstract, reflects on the nature of social fracture.
Current selection
These experiment with the scenic form in its bare divisions between land, water and sky as a metaphoric lens through which a sense of shared contemporary vulnerabilities can be explored. Moving between abstraction and figuration, the works examine relationships between geometry, surface, depth, and illusion as imprints of the human. Built through an intuitive and gestural process, the paintings may combine layered oil paint with oil bars and inserted sections of canvas. Scraping, scoring, and repeated reworking create unstable, suggestive surfaces that resist fixed interpretation. Titles derived from chance phrases further open the works to multiple readings.
Sites: www.bernardcharnley.co.uk