Charles Searles: Universal Reflections of Color and Rhythm
Charles Searles: Universal Reflections of Color and Rhythm exhibition has return to Winston-Salem State University’s Diggs Gallery by popular demand.
The exhibition, which will be on display through September 12, includes colorful and rhythmic paintings, relief works, and sculptures from 30 years of the artist’s career.
“Searles’ work reflects the universal rhythms of human nature; they are bold, expressive, and celebratory of global cultures. The influence of dance and music as universal languages is evident throughout his colorful canvases and often larger than life sculptures,” explains Belinda Tate, director of Diggs Gallery.
Charles Searles (1937-2004) was born and raised in Philadelphia, PA, to a middle class family who sheltered him from the harshness of racism. It was not until he joined the armed forces in the 1950’s that he witnessed the stark differences in how blacks and whites were treated. After the army, he returned to Philadelphia to pursue a career in the arts and later graduated with a degree from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. His early work, characterized by muted and somber tones, expressed the more bleak aspects of racism, poverty and segregation in America. His first hand views of Jim Crow initially propelled him toward black power groups like the Nation of Islam. This group inspired him to learn more about Africa.
Ironically, his actual travel to Ghana, Nigeria and Morocco beginning in the early 1970’s steered him toward a deeper understanding of the universal nature of mankind. Through his new education in African history and culture, he gained an appreciation of European, Asian, and Native American cultures. The artist also found a new spiritual focus that allowed him to unleash his creativity in a direction that allowed him to speak to all mankind. “I am concerned with making work that feels integrated and crosses cultures,” said Charles Searles.
Charles Searles work has been seen in numerous one-person and group exhibitions throughout the United States and abroad. He is represented in many museums including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC; The Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists, Boston, MA; Afro-American Historical and Cultural Museum, Philadelphia; Howard University Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, Montclair Museum of Art, New Jersey; Dallas Museum of Art; and Charlottenborg Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark. Searles also created numerous pieces of public art including murals and sculptures in Philadelphia and New York City.
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