Crypt Postmortem

21^st Century Baroque

The Crypt gallery@ St Pancras Church

400 visitors

“comments”

Inspiring.          Excellent and powerful. Impresionante.

You are amazing. Thank you so very much.                   Fabulous painting

Loved the work.           Very nice.         Great Exhibtion.

“Man is an animal suspended in a web of signification”

Beautiful, thought-provoking pieces.

Amazing paintings.        Absolutely brilliant, loved everything.

Really good, old and new.         Very interesting.            Interesting.

Very Powerful works.               Great Talent.

Very strong stuff. Impressed with the variety of styles and the common energy of power and secrets- a mystique and the unspoken…

Really loved everything; the consolidation of styles and overlapping themes.

I really liked the use of found objects like tables and coffee tables. Rich colours. Lovely.

As usual the crypt attracted a rich mix of visitors from all over the world. The first week-end numbers were helped considerably by the Open House Weekend because of the lengthy queues to view St Pancras Hotel.. My decision to move to September paid off with many student visitors and a couple of academics.. For me one of the main reasons for exhibiting is the feedback from talking to visitors. Every viewer sees something different. It was fascinating to have two very different discussions in the same afternoon: talking with a student of Art History specializing in the chemistry of materials which centered around my use of mixed media on paper and the alchemy of fire could not have been more different than discussing my use of images of the Black male with a student of M.A. Social Anthropology of Development, who’s dissertation was titled, ‘Representation of the Subjects of Development in Photography.’ which centered around the use of starving babies and crying mothers in the Third World.

The best outcome of the exhibition was an interview and review by Hazelann Williams published in the Voice Newspaper which has subsequently been reprinted in the Jamaican Gleaner resulting in an enquiry from the USA.

http://www.voice-online.co.uk/article/black-beautiful-says-white-artist

COMMENTS FROM VOICE ONLINE

This artist likes men too much if you get what I mean. Google him there’s picture of him wearing frock. I’m seros!                                                                                            SIC

Get over yourself and learn to spell.

Pi’s art is powerful and beautiful…..His works on wood have a natural energy and I like the way he works with discarded  daily objects such as table tops and turns them into art creating different textures for his work…. Black men have not often been the subject of portraits and here we have a collection that celebrates black male beauty in a unique way…. He may be from Coventry but his sensibility seems very urban London and these pieces would look great in urban settings at home and in bars or coffee shops.

Charlie Pi’s comments and paintings is a compliment to black men. He did not evoke the flattery to the black woman’s form and beauty, and chose the word padding to address her bosom and buttocks. An artist who enjoys painting body images should not discriminate against painting one sex over the other. I understand an artist may prefer and be better at painting one gender over the other, but this artist appear to almost glorify the black male body. I feel there is a bit of homosexual influence behind his paintings. I am not anti-homophobic, it is just an observation I made from his comments and arguments to support the reason he paints black men.                                                                                                 SIC

Charlie’s comment:  It’s probably a good thing that bigots seem to be almost illiterate.

Letter to Voice:    BEFORE READING the article I had an apprehensive interest, expecting another white artist receiving all the attention and accolade for being in tune with his “black brothers and sisters” while numerous artists of colour are not getting the attention they deserve.

On reading the piece I was relieved that the artist is respectful and able to express his aesthetic appreciation for the beauty of a people that has been overlooked and oppressed. I for one will be looking out for his exhibition.

Another wonderful experience thanks to all at St Pancras Church and to all my supporters, beautiful assistants and visitors.