Charles MacCarthy

Charles MacCarthy
9th – 30th July 2022

Red Easel oil on canvas 76 x 102cm £2000

In the Studio I oil on canvas 61 x 81cm £1600

In the Studio II oil on canvas 56 x 75cm £1600

In the Studio III oil on canvas 60 x 60cm £1400

In the Studio IV oil on paper 52 x 68cm £1400

Sophie’s Armchair oil on paper 50 x 67cm £1400

Bleddfa oil on paper 38 x 66cm £1000

White Table oil on canvas 51 x 76cm £1200

Kitchen Sink, Weedon oil on canvas 61 x 61cm SOLD

Valmondois Studio I oil on paper 51 x 62cm £1600

Valmondois Studio II oil on paper 54 x 57cm £1600

Valmondois Studio III oil on paper 51 x 58cm £1600

Valmondois Studio IV oil on paper 48 x 36cm £950

Valmondois Studio V oil on paper 41 x 41cm SOLD

Garden Door oil on canvas 46 x 57cm SOLD

Cream Jacket oil on paper 42 x 39cm £900

Black and White II oil on canvas 41 x 51cm £900

Black and White III oil on canvas 41 x 51cm £900

Black and White IV oil on canvas 51 x 61cm £1000

Black and White I oil on canvas 30 x 41cm £650

Interior with Piano I oil on board 46 x 35cm £800

Interior with Piano II oil on canvas 41 x 51cm SOLD

Still Life with Enamel Jug oil on paper 45 x 35cm SOLD

Armchair and Window I oil on canvas 35 x 46cm SOLD

Window, Table and Mirror oil on canvas 35 x 46cm £800

Interior, Oxford oil on canvas 46 x 35cm £800

Upper Room Window oil on canvas 41 x 51cm £900

Armchair and Window II oil on board 41 x 46cm £800

Kitchen Table at Night I oil on canvas 41 x 51cm SOLD

Kitchen Table at Night II oil on canvas 30 x 41cm SOLD

The Plate Rack oil on canvas 41 x 51cm £900

Bedroom Doorways II oil on paper on board 51 x 38cm £900

Bedroom Doorways I oil on canvas 51 x 41cm £900

Bedroom Doorways III oil on canvas 41 x 30cm £650

Table and Mirror II oil on canvas 51 x 41cm SOLD

Table and Mirror I oil on canvas 41 x 30cm £650

From One Room to Another I oil on canvas 51 x 41cm £900

From One Room to Another II mixed media on paper 43 x 32cm £900

Table I oil on canvas 41 x 51cm £900

Table II oil on canvas 41 x 51cm £900

Fireplace with Armchair and Window oil on canvas 30 x 41cm £650

Blue Interior oil on canvas 51 x 41cm £900

Rydon Kitchen oil on canvas 41 x 30cm SOLD

Weedon Kitchen oil on paper 41 x 28cm £700

Still Life with Six Objects I oil on canvas 28 x 26cm SOLD

Still Life with Six Objects II oil on canvas 28 x 26cm SOLD

Still Life with Five Objects I oil on canvas 25 x 22cm SOLD

Still Life with Five Objects II oil on canvas 25 x 22cm SOLD

Study for Interior, Oxford oil on paper 30 x 21cm SOLD

Study for Blue Interior oil on paper 30 x 21cm £350

Table III oil on paper 21 x 30cm SOLD

Table IV oil on paper 21 x 30cm SOLD

Table V oil on paper 21 x 30cm SOLD

Table VI oil on paper 21 x 30cm SOLD

The paintings in this exhibition are nearly all ‘interiors’ painted from memory.
They depict rooms in five different houses that I have lived in, including the
house I grew up in in Buckinghamshire, my mothers home in France where my
grandfather’s studio was, and my first married home in Oxford. They are based on
drawings, studies, and photographs some of which go back 30 or 40 years others
which are much more recent.
Before beginning a painting I always make drawings – a process which is
spontaneous and intuitive in contrast to painting which is full of long deliberation,
changes of mind, refinement and distillation.
In the early stages of a painting I put in nearly everything almost like an inventory,
then I try to shape it , discarding unnecessary details, modulating the tonal
intervals in order to achieve space but keeping it shallow enough to develop the
abstract qualities which belong naturally to the flatness of the painted surface. A
slow process, but somehow slowness is important. After a while the painting itself
makes more demands than the subject. It has a life of its own. All of the paintings
in the studio interact with each other, influence each other. In fact, painting often
seems to consist in a kind of visual listening – looking long and attentively without
any internal verbalising.
Coming into the studio in the morning I wonder which painting will speak first,
demanding to be changed, improved, simplified. Not always the one I had decided
I should work on. Also, is the painting still the same as the mental image of it that
I have from the previous day or week? Was it better before I made that change?
Memory seems to play such an important part in the painting process.
In the run up to an exhibition some paintings will come together quickly, others
will take much longer. Sometimes I need to take a painting away from the studio in
order to see it in isolation. How much of my internal / external dialogue has been
transferred onto the canvas I wonder? It seems like a luxury to have a studio full
of unfinished work, but it’s not until they are hung in he gallery that I can truly see
whether they are finished or not.

Charles MacCarthy trained at Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts (Dip AD) and Brighton Polytechnic (Art teachers certificate). After a
period of teaching and working as an auxillary nurse, he was awarded a major bursary by Southern Arts which enabled him to paint full time.
Initially painting landscape, he gradually abandoned this in order to paint more intimate subjects in a domestic setting. Through still lifes
and interiors he tries to evoke in paint both the objects and the atmosphere of his everyday surroundings. Working slowly with muted tones
and simplified compositions, stillness and calm predominate. In 1986 he moved to Herefordshire where as well as exhibiting regularly he has
curated a number of religiously themed exhibitions. He also exhibits in London with the Piers Feetham Gallery. In 2015 he was given a solo
exhibition in Louisville, Kentucky as part of the Thomas Merton centenary celebrations.
Solo exhibitions
Piers Feetham Gallery, November 2021
The Table, Hay-on-Wye, with Daniel MacCarthy April 2020
Piers Feetham Gallery, November 2018
The Table, Hay-on-Wye, November 2017
Hereford Cathedral, Lent 2016 ( Last Supper Table )
St Michael’s Discoed 2015
Magrath Gallery, Bellarmine University, Louisville, Kentucky 2015
Silk Top Hat Gallery, Ludlow 2014
Piers Feetham Gallery, London 2014
Silk Top Hat Gallery, Ludlow 2012
Monnow Valley Arts Centre 2011
Silk Top Hat Gallery, Ludlow 2010
Piers Feetham Gallery, London 2010
The Bleddfa Centre, Powys 2008
Group exhibitions
The Waiting Room Gallery, Isle of Colonsay 2018
Haymakers Gallery, 2018
Makers of the Marches, Kington, Herefordshire 2018
St Michael’s Discoed, Stations of the Cross, Last Supper, Wilderness, The Twelve, 40 Days 40 Artists, 2012-2017 (curator and exhibiter )
‘The Light’ St Michael’s, Kingsland, Herefordshire 2015 (curator and exhibiter )
‘The Company of Heaven” Kingsland, Herefordshire 2013 (curator and exhibiter)

Armchair oil on canvas 30 x 41cm £650
To purchase work please contact Val Harris at art@thetablehay.com or 07956 452195
The gallery offers Collectorplan, an initiative administered by the Welsh Assembly,
enabling you to purchase work up to the value of £5,000 with an interest free loan repayable over a year.
All measurements are for framed sizes unless marked * where the paintings are unframed.
The gallery is open Thursday - Saturday 10am - 3pm or by appointment during exhibitions.
All paintings are for sale upon receipt of this catalogue.