Rod Charlesworth
Rod Charlesworth, a painter from the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia, is committed to painting images that have a strong Canadian cultural influence, whether through his bold landscapes or his whimsical images of children at play.
Rod Charlesworth - The Many Moods of the Canadian Landscape
Date and Place of Birth
Rod Charlesworth was born in Northern British Columbia in 1955. When he was seven, his family moved to the Okanagan Valley, Kelowna, where his fascination for drawing and painting developed. He still lives in the Okanagan, although much of his subject matter is derived from various areas of Western and Eastern Canada.
Background and Career
Originally influenced by surrealism in his earliest paintings, he attended Okanagan University College in the 1970s, where his ability to express the beauty of the western Canadian landscape became evident. During this period, he also discovered the works of the impressionist school, which has led him to his current artistic interests. Those include a keen interest in experimenting with colour and the physical qualities of paint. Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven have also had a profound influence on his work. Although acknowledging his education and technical training, Charlesworth still considers himself a self-taught artist.
Rod’s work is represented in many corporate and private collections in Canada and the United States. He is also represented by fine commercial galleries throughout Canada.
His work and art
Rod is committed to painting images that have a strong Canadian cultural influence, whether this is expressed through his bold landscapes or his whimsical images of children at play.
“If I waited for a bright shaft of light to awaken my artistic senses and stir me to create, I would probably have created all of nothing. What initially inspired me to paint was how we all see the world differently. I wanted to strike my own visual language that could be used to portray the Canadian landscape in all of its rugged subtleties. The mountains at dusk, a lake with the sunlight gleaming on it, a fishing village with all of its quaint colours, all of these scenes afford ample inspiration. It is these scenes coupled with the creative process and the physical qualities of paint on canvas that bring all of this to a fulfilling aesthetic resolve.”
–Rod Charlesworth
Engaged with and aware of the extensive history of Canadian landscape painting, Charlesworth is committed to providing his viewers with a refreshing, often celebratory, approach to the landscape. His work consciously comments on beauty and the ephemeral within the landscape through a manner of mark making that is unique to his visual vocabulary.
“In my paintings I try to evoke feelings and emotions about places, instead of rendering strict analytical representations of them. I use colour as a structural tool to bring out what I feel is essential in terms of light, dark, cool and warm. This in turn brings out the spirit of the painting.”
Rod Charlesworth is represented by the Au P'tit Bonheur Art Gallery since May 2020, exclusively for Quebec.
