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IN THE PAINT — Artist Spotlight
“Art should change the temperature of the room.”
Charly Palmer
Charly Palmer
Over 30 years and counting, Charly Palmer’s art speaks for itself. Literally. Yes, Palmer’s paintbrush is as a Griot. In every painting, he bears witness of African ancestry and contemporary experiences — rhythmic, visual stories that shifts what each viewer believes to see — should one dare to look deeply.
Palmer has an innate awareness of documenting the intricacies of Blackness with such depth, patterns, symbols, and textures that it is easy to forget that he begins with a blank canvas. The ways in which he applies acrylic is somewhat its own aesthetic that transcends where one’s thought begins and ends. As a Fine Artist who paints upwards of 50 paintings a year, Palmer’s heart’s desire? To be used as a vessel and expression of something higher than himself.
Follow the instructions of the ancestors and you will see greatness happen; there’s intrinsic beauty and strength of Blackness in each body of work. Much of Palmer’s messaging is in the eyes of his people, as if conversing with one another. Conversing with you. From loose sketches and tight lines to blocks of color to nuances of mixed media, his art manifests in visual expressions to the questions, “What came before? What truth must be told?”
Palmer’s biggest inspiration is his mother, Irma Walker. Whatever he and his five siblings wanted to accomplish, she’d find a way to support them. Palmer’s been drawing since he was 4 years old. His mom worked in City Hall in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She’d take him typing paper and he’d fill every page. She passed away before President Obama’s inauguration, but she saw him get elected. For about a year, Palmer continued to produce art, but there was no emotion, no truth behind what he was doing. Then he created the piece, Not Enough Flowers. It’s a little boy holding a huge bouquet of flowers.
Afterward, Palmer realized the little boy was himself. In mourning the loss of his Shero, he started painting again. The flowers are all the things Black women are: God. There’s nothing stronger, more powerful, more resilient or more creative than a Black woman.
For Palmer, there’s nothing else he could imagine himself ever doing. Born in Fayette, Alabama and raised in Wisconsin, Palmer completed studies in Chicago at the American Academy of Art and School of Art Institute. He’s taught design and illustration and painting at Spelman College. Palmer resides in Atlanta, GA with his soulmate, Karida Brown.