Text Art and Painting
Text Art and Painting
The Uncertainty Series is an ongoing body of work that mimics the 'track changes' function in word processing programs. This format allows Charnock to reveal the doubts she experiences during her art-making - giving solid form to meandering and often contradictory thoughts. An installation at Mid Pennine Gallery took the form of vinyl works spanning two walls of the gallery.
According to Prof Michael Corris (2), the Uncertainty Series is:
'the story of authority rebuked, of certainty suspended, of an internal dialogue made manifest in the world . . . In one work, viewers find the sentence: “I don't often believe my end-result is driven by my original idea.” As they stumble through strike-throughs, lose their way and retrace their steps, a conflicting sentence emerges: “I always have a clear idea that drives my practice.” . . . We read phrases that are, so to speak, false starts. We trip over ourselves, and in so doing rehearse Charnock's uncertainty.'
Charnock's paintings within the Uncertainty Series, like her current abstract work, reveal the process of their making. Again, they can be read. As Corris points out:
'One is not even certain that Charnock recognises any substantial difference between writing and painting, in the sense that the spectator receives these forms as forms that demand different kinds of engagement, different modes of address, Thoughtout her diverse practice, one senses a liberating disregard for such certainties.'
Michael Corris, “Rethinking Writing: Anne Charnock and the Art of Language” in Certainty Suspended, Castlefield Gallery Publications. September 2008.
Painting
In her recent practice, Charnock investigates the essential characteristics of painting. She initiates her paintings with simple flick-of-the-wrist ink splashes or she drips ink from a pipette. In recent works, gravity is the main agent in her picture-making. There's a tension between control, spontaneity and chance.
Charnock's working method is easy to trace and the viewer becomes an active participant in unpicking her process. In other words, the viewer reads the paintings.
These works are playful and call to mind the work of Atsuko Tanaka, Ian Davenport and David Reed. On her studio wall she has pinned a quote from Ian Davenport about his own painting:
'big drips . . . absurd, quite stupid really . . . a journey from a dumb thing to somewhere else.' (from Jackson Pollock Revisited, by Anna Moszynska, Contemporary Visual Arts Vol 22.
Public realm
2017 - TextImageText intervention curated by Andrew Bracey in Methodist Chapel, Waddington Lincolnshre.
2008 - Vialaartist Art Takes the Streets, city centre, Valencia, Spain
Qualifications and training
2001 - MA Fine Art, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester
1999 - BA Fine Art, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester
Solo exhibitions
2008 - Over Statements, Mid Pennine Gallery, Burnley
2006 - Anne Charnock, Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston
2006 - Anne Charnock and Chris Clarke (parallel solos), Cornerhouse, Manchester
2006 - Artefact, FACT, Liverpool 2006 - Uncertainties, Art Gene, Barrow in Furness, Cumbria
Group exhibitions
2013 - Between The Lines: Exploring Language Systems, AXIS Curated Selection by Helen Hillyard, MA Curating the Art Museum, The Courtauld Institute of Art, Online
2011 - The Title Art Prize, BLANKSPACE, Manchester
2010 - Paint, Beldam Gallery, Brunel University, Uxbridge
2010 - Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition, Piccadilly, London
2010 - Universal Shipping Box, Jardin Luminoso, Projektraum Schwarz, twenty+3 Projects, Buenos Aires, Berlin, Manchester
2009 - " . . . ", Galleria Omphalos, Terlizzi, Bari, Italy
2009 - FRINGEMK Painting Prize, Middleton Hall, Milton Keynes
2009 - if p then q, poster commission, Text Festival, Manchester
2009 - Not At This Address, Bury Museum and Art Gallery, Bury
2009 - The Agency of Words, Text Festival, Bury Museum and Art Gallery
2009 - Writing Exhibitions, Stanley Picker Gallery, 7.9 Cubic Metres, Kingston University
2008 - SWAP–VAIHTO, Bureau Gallery & Cable Factory, Salford and Helsinki
2007 - Public Pages, Dartington College, Plymouth 2007 - Rich and Strange, Flock Gallery, University of Wales., Newport
2006 - ]BracketTHIS[3 , Arena Gallery, Liverpool Biennial Independents (A Foundation) 2006 - BracketTHIS3, Liverpool Biennial Independents, Arena Gallery, Liverpool
2006 - In Exposed Areas video screening, Kulturbunker, Cologne 2006 - PrintROOM, Bureau Gallery, Salford
2005 - Different Alphabets, Text Festival, Bury Art Gallery, Bury
2005 - On the Shelf, Compartment initiative, Manchester
2004 - MAX 10 Screenings, Newlyn, Newlyn Art Gallery
2004 - Media(tion), Doncaster Museum and Art Gallery, Doncaster
2004 - Prizewinners Exhibition, Surface Gallery, Nottingham
2004 - Processor, Warsaw Projects (Another Product), Manchester
2004 - Screenings, Candid Arts Projection Room, London
2004 - The Bigger Picture, Exchange Square Big Screen, Manchester
2004 - Typo - Writing with Style, Moderna Museet, Stockholm
2003 - Eve of Destruction, International 3, Manchester
2002 - Atoms in the Family, International 3, Manchester 2002 - Ladies Only, Liverpool Biennial (A Foundation), Liverpool
2001 - All Colours Will Agree in the Dark, Cornerhouse, Manchester 2000 - Blind Date 2, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn
2000 - Interim, Ove Arup Gallery, Manchester
Intervention
2006 - Anywhereblogs, Manchester Literature Festival, Manchester Artist talks
2004 - Expert Gallery Talk, JODI exhibition, FACT, Liverpool
Residencies
2012 - Joya - Art+Ecology, Cortijada Los Gázque, Andalucia, Spain
Competitions, prizes and awards
2011 - The Title Art Prize, BLANKSPACE, Manchester 2009 - FRINGEMK
2009 - Catalogue Finalist, Milton Keynes
2008 - Arts Council England individual grant, "Certainty Suspended" publication, publisher Castlefield Gallery Publications
2003 - Lens-based open competition (first prize), Surface Gallery, Nottingham Educational experience - tertiary
2004 - Visiting studio tutor ongoing, MA Art as Environment, Manchester
Publications
2013 - “The Dark Would, Language Art Anthology": Edited by Philip Davenport.
2008 - "Certainty Suspended", Exhibition catalogue for solo show at Mid Pennine Gallery. Essays by Prof Michael Corris and Dr Fiona Curran.
Fiction and Awards
I have written four novels and a novella:
A Calculated Life (2013, 47North) Shortlisted for the Philiip K. Dick Award and the Kitschies Award.
Sleeping Embers of an Ordinary Mind (2015, 47North) One of The Guardian's "Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of 2015"
Dreams Before the Start of Time (2017, 47North) Winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award and shortlisted for Best Novel, British Science Fiction Association.
The Enclave (2017, NewCon Press) Winner of Best Short Fiction, British Science Fiction Association.
Bridge 108 (2020, 47North)