Q&A: An Interview with Charlie Boothright

What made you want to be an artist?

I didn’t really know you could be an artist at all until university. Once I was exposed to the London art scene it really felt like there was no going back. To be honest my tutors at Camberwell really made me want to be an artist, they definitely gave an education that expanded outside of the studios. Being an artist is more than just the work, it’s an approach to living. It’s how you perceive the world, and how you choose to spend your time. You give yourself the freedom to create your own world, and take moments of inspiration further within your own right. It’s having the guts to really make something of what you see, without anyone telling you to, and without anyone’s permission. To be an artist is a choice.

Do you make artwork primarily to understand yourself, or to be understood by others?

I make artwork as a running dialogue with my own life, so it does reveal things about me over time, but I don’t create to understand it or myself. It acts as a place of solace and expression, and a way to make my thoughts something tangible. Any understanding of the work comes retrospectively after a few months, or years even. I think other people can see before me what I’m getting at, but as the artist I find you can be too immersed in your own work to see it clearly sometimes.

When someone who doesn’t know you encounters your work for the first time, what do you hope they notice before anything else?

I hope they notice the drama of it all, I want people to feel immersed and totally absorbed in the work. I hope they notice how they have to physically interact with the work in order to fully see it, by walking alongside or having to step back and tilt their head from all angles. I want viewing my work to be a demanding experience, one that takes you completely out of your own head. To offer a hypnotic moment of colour and texture, a pause, an encounter. That the viewer viewing the work is as important as the work is itself. Honestly when people see my work I want them to think when was the last time that they were creative? And what is their outlet for expression?

What are your artistic signatures?

I’d say my artistic signature is my palette, or the amount of debris I collect in the texture of my work. I’m definitely not someone who keeps things clean in the studio, and I definitely manhandle my materials a lot, so they usually end up plastered in the work somewhere.

Artist Portrait by @stellamcgarvey