Charlotte Verity: London Original Print Fair

Karsten Schubert London are delighted to present this online viewing room of new monotypes by London-based Charlotte Verity.  This presentation coincides with the opening of a solo booth of the artists work at the London Original Print Fair at Somerset House. 

Things move quickly, fleetingly, barely noticeably. How to respond? Charlotte Verity
 
Whether working at a large or small scale, Verity maps the ephemerality of her immediate surroundings, evoking the cycles of nature. The sense of light and space compels the viewer to look more closely. Transient moments and feelings are captured whether in the blossom of the pear tree in spring, or the starkness of holly in winter, the sky reflected in its shiny leaves. With her brush she seeks out the subtle shifts in tone and colour, or the exact line and curve of what is in front of her. Her handling ranges accordingly - from broad strokes to intense passages of fine brushwork.

Encompassing each season, Verity’s watercolour monotypes present a poetic glimpse of specific moments as told through the patterns and rythms of nature. Combining realism with process she captures the most fleeting of changes through the immediacy of the print medium. More frequently working with a muted palette, the intimacy she achieves in these small-scale works on paper elevates the presence of her subjects defining each curl and twist while delicately drawing individual stems as if tracing veins beneath the skin. In some works Verity will use a reduced palette and employ darker tones to create dramatic contrasts of form and colour.

In CV 2 12, 2022 for example, Verity describes the familiar silhouette of holly stretching upwards from amongst a bed of pale flowers contained within a dark abstract ground. Its crisp outlines rendered in dark tones take on the form of motif, set against the lighter shades of the background this contrasts with the delicate colouring and rendering of the individual petals below. This pairing of sharp spiky holly and the softness of the artists brush-marks further evokes sombre winter moods.

In CV 2 19, and CV 2 01, both 2022, the artist depicts a web of branches filled with the colours and shades of spring and autumn foliage respectively.  The prints have the recogniseable depth and structure of Verity’s painting, yet are enveloped in a luminosity intrinsic to the print process.  In other works, Verity celebrates exuberant daffodils, snowdrops and bright tulips in bloom, highlighting her commitment to looking and understanding the most opportune time to catch the subtleties and textures within her subject's inherent seasonal nuances. Seen together these prints both convey the marking of time and the timelessness of painting.

There is a hopefulness about printing: you never know how it will turn out. There is a built-in delay between making the plate and seeing the result. Nature keeps us guessing, and there is a similar anxiety and expectation about printmaking.

Charlotte Verity