Evocation of the Soul
by David Heffner, Ph.D.
Rarely have I seen an artist more drawn to portraiture than Charlie Emmert. Whether historical figures, family members or friends, her portraits are not renderings of a specific point in time. Her portraits are generalized and evolutionary, monumental and iconic. She evokes the essence of the sitter as she develops a deeper relationship or understanding of the person through her carefully meditative approach to creating and painting.
Never satisfied with drawing as rendering, Charlie was naturally drawn to the freedom of painting. In her early paintings of the mid-1990s Charlie drew inspiration from the likes of Kokoschka, Modigliani, Roualt and Soutine. Her response to these artists makes sense; a painter in love with painterly paintings. Charlie's response to painting is synonymous with her life; in painting as in life she organizes and makes structure out of life’s uncertainties. Within this self-imposed structural framework, Charlie freely sketches with paint building up layer upon layer thickening and enriching the surface as she builds up emotional depth as well. You see this in Charlie's earlier work as well as her latest pieces; a strong sense of character and space matched with vibrant colors. Each painting is an evocation of the soul. She molds shapes in fictive space by pushing pigment around, thus her paintings are sculptural. The paintings are thick. They evolve in a slow but not necessarily methodical way.
In Charlie's latest pieces she does not rely upon past artists for inspiration; rather her paintings are self-referential and evoke internally. She lets the paintings happen. With maturity, Charlie seems at peace with composition. Her approach seamlessly matches her subject. You see this in her portrait of Edgar Allen Poe. His stories are bold, colorful, and eery. An avid reader of Poe, Charlie has captured these precise characteristics in her rendering of the famous author. Often full frontal and closely cropped, her paintings do not scream novelty but rather whisper subtlety. This subtlety is seen in the image of Frida Kahlo. Here we have a gentle, feminine and almost familial portrait of this well known artist. Clearly there is an intimate connection between Charlie and her sense of Frida. This is suggested in the careful rendering of the crimson frame that surrounds this delicate and beautiful figure. Frida's image is carefully placed within the painted frame for intimate viewing.
I see in Charlie's work the evolution of an artist and a person. Her paintings have changed yet intrinsically remain the same. They are warm, intimate, and life-affirming. Seeing her work develop over time, I can only look forward to seeing future paintings of Charlie Emmert.
Charlie Emmert has had numerous one person shows and has participated in various group shows. Her work is in private and public collections. The Faust Gallery in Scottsdale, Arizona carries her work as does the Lasansky Gallery & Studio in Iowa City, Iowa. The West Valley Art Museum will feature her work in a one person show in March of 2007.
