OCT 2019 – LONDON – NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY – BP PORTRAIT AWARD 2019 – CHARLIE SCHAFFER
I was very pleased to visit this year's BP Awards at the National Portrait Gallery, and I was very excited to think they got it right in choosing the 2019 first prize winner--Imara in Her Winter Coat by artist Charlie Schaffer. I was so much attracted to and felt such a connection with admiration to the artist's work that I contacted Schaffer to purchase a piece, wanting to be part of this moment to endorse greatness in our times. Currently on exhibit at my gallery for the Holiday 2019/Winter 2020 season will be an "unfinished" self portrait by Schaffer, painted during the same time as his painting of Imara. Schaffer shared with me that for him, the piece is finished, as he painted it during that time and didn't want to return to it further--to him, it is complete. For me, it connected to the vulnerability an artist sits with every time they face themselves at an easel, or in a mirror. Its beauty is its honesty.
videos taken from charlieschaffer.com
Imara In Her Winter Coat
Charlie Schaffer, 2019. Oil on canvas, 47 x 35inBP Portrait Award 2019
Unfinished Self-Portrait
Charlie Schaffer, Winter 2018-19. Oil on linen, 19 x 15in
Shaffer’s work represents the deep commitment artists have for their creation and the great burden and toll it takes on one’s self to create outside the norm, beyond the shallow and true to their calling.
I am including two videos from the artists' web page, charlieshaffer.com, because I saw so much truth in his work and connected to the empathy portrayed. As an artist turned gallery owner--turned interior designer too--I long for the day to return to painting again, possibly full-time. I also know life can easily kick that "one day" down the road because I believe it takes 100% commitment to be a great artist, requiring discipline and being in touch with a sensitivity that demands a strength in conviction to become fearless.
Unfinished Self-Portrait Charlie Schaffer, Winter 2018-19. Oil on linen, 19 x 15in. Currently on view at James Yarosh Gallery
James' partner, Barney Cohn, next with the Winston Churchill portrait
I was very pleased to visit this year’s BP Awards at the National Portrait Gallery, and I was very excited to think they got it right in choosing the 2019 first prize winner–Imara in Her Winter Coat by artist Charlie Schaffer. I was so much attracted to and felt such a connection with admiration to the artist’s work that I contacted Schaffer to purchase a piece, wanting to be part of this moment to endorse greatness in our times. Currently on exhibit at my gallery for the Holiday 2019/Winter 2020 season will be an “unfinished” self portrait by Schaffer, painted during the same time as his painting of Imara.