Charlie Chrobnik

A bright pink/blue painting of 3 figures standing together, they stare at the viewer, 1 has lily petals erupting from his mouth

Charlie Chrobnik is a British-Ukrainian artist working in London. He is currently pursuing his Masters in Painting at the Royal College of Art, having previously graduated with a BA in Fine Art from Central Saint Martins. He was recently shortlisted for Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2023 and he has shown his work in multiple group shows in London, most notably his recent inclusion in D Contemporary’s annual open call exhibition Passages.

Charlie is the awardee of the Royal College of Art Disabled Student Scholarship 2021-2023.

Small brightly coloured painting collages encapsulated in resin sculptures. The sculptures are translucent and look watery

Charlie’s practice centers around vulnerability, shame and care. He explores diaristic narratives around illness and loss, identity and effeminacy, remembrance and transformation. Working in painting, collage and sculpture, he is interested in the intertextuality between his painting and its photographic documentation. Creating new spaces of becoming and questioning where the final work lies. Bodies he originally paints in realism, ultimately metamorphose and fall into palette knife-pulled bubblegum. Constant replication of similar effeminate figures and sickly fragmented bodies act as a way of avoiding erasure.

Charlie aims to capture a not so distant memory or a current state of being. He expresses these moments in a narrative that is non-chronological. Each work is a random wincing memory or moment of shame suddenly appearing for no tangible reason, those that blindside you in the shower or in the middle of brushing your teeth.

He smells like lilies in bloom as he salivates, those petals fall at my feet – Acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 80 cm x 60 cm

Once-living artefact – Small sculptures made from resin and acrylic paint, 21 cm x 12 cm x 4 cm (times 7)

Periwinkle pumped in my veins and later permeates through, pelt falls under the duvet – Acrylic and textile on canvas, 80 cm x 60 cm

Blue decade this October 23 that your septic gaze run over me – Acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 80 cm x 60 cm

Acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 80 cm x 60 cm (times 3) –

Burdens – Acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 80 cm x 60 cm

Anything’s better than yellow – Acrylic painting collage on paper, A6

I powdered over lilac skin and scrubbed bright blush over granite, not convincing. Moonface still stings in the sun – Acrylic and textile on canvas, 80 cm x 60 cm

Obliterate and recline in this powder lilac safe haven – Small painting collages encapsulated in resin sculptures, 21 cm x 12 cm x 4 cm (times 3)

Blight – Acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 80 cm x 60 cm

T-shirt long blonde hair – Acrylic painting collage on paper, A6

Wet blanket – Small painting collages encapsulated in resin sculptures, 21 cm x 12 cm x 4 cm (times 3)

Lavender and heliotrope and iris and vanilla and it still filters through, sour sea salt and brine – Acrylic on canvas, 18 cm x 13 cm

They’re all gonna laugh at you – Acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 80 cm x 60 cm

Nothing – Acrylic on canvas, 18 cm x 13 cm

Blue – Acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 80 cm x 60 cm

And as it subsided I returned there, holding my breath beneath pink lily pads, fingers trickling through aquamarine. Violet scars and jaundiced skin sing again, bathed in healing green

Charlie Chrobnik

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About

Royal College of Art

Charlie Chrobnik

RCA Disability Scholarship 2021-23

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About

Royal College of Art