b.1967
I was born in Maine to German parents living in America under the Marshall plan. In 1973, my family moved to Iran, which we fled during
the revolution in 1979. Back in Germany, I studied painting at the University of Arts in Berlin from 1986-1989.
I dropped out and travelled the world as a street musician and performance artist. In 1991, I picked up my brushes again and started
organising art shows wherever I travelled. 1995 I moved to New York. In 2000, I opened a restaurant to showcase my work in Brooklyn.
In 2005, I started to narrow down my color spectrum to teal, white, black and rust. In 2009 I reintroduced collage and this element created a
real conversation that keeps evolving.
I was born in Maine to German parents living in America under the Marshall plan. In 1973, my family moved to Iran, which we fled during
the revolution in 1979. Back in Germany, I studied painting at the University of Arts in Berlin from 1986-1989.
I dropped out and travelled the world as a street musician and performance artist. In 1991, I picked up my brushes again and started
organising art shows wherever I travelled. 1995 I moved to New York. In 2000, I opened a restaurant to showcase my work in Brooklyn.
In 2005, I started to narrow down my color spectrum to teal, white, black and rust. In 2009 I reintroduced collage and this element created a
real conversation that keeps evolving.
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| Charlotta Janssen |
| Man and Machine: Flight Clifford Harmon Before The Crash 48" x 48"Oil Iron |
| Man and Invention: Coxey's Life Savers and Water Wings 48" x 72" Diptych 2015 Materials: Acrylic, Oil, Iron Oxide and Collage On Canvas |
| Arrested February 21, 1956 in Montgomery, AL: Tom Parks 2009 22" x 28" Materials: Oil, acrylic, iron oxide and collage of pictures of mugshots onto canvas. The Montgomery Bus Boycott, a seminal event in the U.S. civil rights movement, was a political and social protest campaign against the policy of racial segregation on the public transit system of Montgomery, Alabama. |
| Arrested May 25, 1961 in Montgomery, AL: David Everett Swift 2010 22" x 28" Materials: Oil, acrylic, iron oxide and collage of pictures of mugshots onto canvas. David Everett Swift was forty-seven in 1961 when he was arrested with a group who tried to integrate the lunch counters in Montgomery, Alabama, during the Freedom Rides that summer. He had ridden from Atlanta, Georgia to Montgomery, Alabama as part of a May 24 to 25, 1961 Freedom Ride. At the time, Swift taught religion at Wesleyan University. |
| Arrested May 25, 1961 in Montgomery, AL: Wyatt Tee Walker 2009 22" x 28" Materials: Oil, acrylic, iron oxide and collage of pictures of mugshots onto canvas. Wyatt Tee Walker (born 1929) is a United States black civil rights leader. He helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1957. He was the third executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference from 1960 and 1964 after John L. Tilley (1957-1959) and Ella Baker (1958-1960). He is now pastor emeritus of Canaan Baptist Church of Christ in Harlem, New York. |
| Arrested June 20, 1961 in Jackson, MS: Joan Pleune, 22 2011 22'' x 28'' Materials: Oil, acrylic, iron oxide, and collage. Joan Pleune, who was then a senior at Cal-Berkeley, had a deep tan at the time and was mistakenly placed in the "colored" cell-block until jailers later realized she was the sister of another white Freedom Rider arrested a few day earlier, who was in the white cells. "It really just showed you how silly it all was," she recalls. |
| Two Skinny Boxers 20" x 30" Image is from the thirties, painted in 2008, material: acrylics and iron oxide onto paper |
| Ernie Ivy Image is from the teens, painted in 2008, material: acrylics and iron oxide onto paper |
| South Side Boys' Club 4.5' x 6', Triptych. Image is from the forties, painted in 2008, material: oil, acrylic & iron oxide onto canvas |
| Jones' Family Car 4.5' x 8', Quadriptych. Image is from the forties, painted in 2008J, material: oil, acrylic & iron oxide onto canvas |
| Untitled |
| Little Girl In Bold Yellow Dress |
| The Kids Of Agua Sabrosa |
| Inappropriate Jogger Michael 2' x 6' |
| Inappropriate Gardeners: Chris & Shawn 4'x 6' |
| Not Dressed To Swim, Larry, Romana and Me, 4' x 6' Quadryptich |
| Retro Collage |
| Freedom Riders and Bus Boycotters |
| Americana on Paper |
| Rabbit |
| Sofa |
| Paintings from mug shots of famous and non famous people arrested during two incidents amidst the civil rights movement demanding desegregation and equal rights for all. The original inspiration was mug shots I found on www.thesmokinggun.com. The significance of the two dates is that you can see that in the 5 years that passed between the two incidents, the civil rights movement matured: the raw anger became organized and focused and better dressed, but also the police photography became more sophisticated: the subject matters are photographed using 2 lights, they're standing and their height is visible. The plaques from the 1961 arrests carry much more information: place and date of arrest, whereas in 1956 the men and women arrested were merely sitting down and carrying numbers. |
| This is my 'thang' for a while now. I rummage through flea markets and photo archives or I hit up friends for old family pics. I make large scale paintings of them in a color palette limited to black, white, aqua and iron oxide, which I rust after I finish the piece. I love the time before people were aware of their photo persona: from the teens through the forties ... |
| Cocoa Cultures |
| This theme was based on a few trips to the Dominican Republic. We visited rural cocoa farmers there and learned first hand that they are being crushed by the system. It all culminated in an auction in collaboration with the rain forest alliance at the boathouse in central park, to benefit the cocoa farmers. |
| Inappropriately Dressed |
| I painted all the work May through July 2009. The idea came from the silly pics Shannon and I stage. I asked my subject matters to dress more or less inappropriately, emanating an awkward vibe. Sometimes I staged it, sometimes they did, or we staged it together. It was also a study on exploring and reenacting the lighting I saw in old photography ... |
| Early Works |
| Moments Out of books materialized onto Canvas and Paper ... my favorite painters are writers. I know this theme will haunt me again. This is only a beginning |