Charles Swank: A Retrospective
50 Years Exploring Inner Worlds Yachats Commons
https://www.artworkarchive.com/profile/charles-swank
Video The Artist Speaks…..
February 15/16 10 – 4 A Polly Plumb Production
by Dangerous Dan Stein
Why go to see an Art Show by an artist you have never heard of? Sometimes good things just happen, and by the unlikeliest of paths, Polly Plumb Productions is able to welcome Charles Swank: A Retrospective to the Yachats Commons, a replacement of sorts for the annual Quilt Show.
Who is Charles Swank? Charles is an old friend of Yachats resident “Dangerous” Dan Stein, who has been a collector of his work since we met in Santa Cruz in 1976. On a trip last Spring to visit his friend, Charles took him up into his attic where over 200 paintings from the last 20 years were rolled up. Long story short: I came home with a pickup load of them promising to find eyes to see them if I could. Polly Plumb jumped at the opportunity when I pitched the idea of a show to them.
I know I am biased, but Charles is a very unusual human being. He learned early on what he wanted to do and stuck with it. And that was to paint and live some sort of a spiritual life. He has done them both nonstop.
After completing an MFA at Yale, he decided in the words of one of his mentors “to commit artistic suicide” and move away from the east coast art to scene to small town Santa Cruz to raise a family. What that meant was a lifetime of day jobs but the freedom to paint as he wanted. (Among his jobs he has been a house painter, a butler for Mrs. Joan Kroc, heiress to McDonalds, and a teacher’s aid to developmentally disabled kids, a job he loved.)
What he didn’t do was sell paintings. And this was by choice. A very late change of heart and the offer of help from me – Dangerous Dan – gives you the opportunity to view and own, if you wish, some beautiful works of art at reasonable prices.
Charles maintains modestly and tongue-in-cheek, that these paintings have saved the world. And in the next breath, that compared to anything else, art – even his – has no value, no utility… I see his paintings as tickets to a world that most of us rarely think to visit.
These large paintings are not your usual coast art of waves and trees, they are abstracted geometric visions, beautiful, accessible, and fun. Depending where you are coming from, you may see them as spiritual, ethereal, psychedelic, perhaps, or just simply beautiful. Even if you are not an art aficionado, they will surprise and please you…
Two last things: At the request of the artist, all paintings will be offered for sale on a sliding scale between $600 and $2000 (for most). Some smaller ones for much less.
And – as this weekend lands just after Valentine’s Day – all visitors will receive a free gift: a piece of art that you can cut out of certain select canvases (or choose from some pre-cuts). Everyone (who wants) will go home with no less than a square foot of art!
Come enjoy this Big Art Happening in our small town!
Feb 15 – 16 2025, 10am to 4pm, at the Yachats Commons
LINDSAY ADREAN, Marbled Murrelet Biology
