Charlie Sheard, Manga Without Words #16, 2023. Watercolour, casein, pastel and handmade cotton paper, framed, 72 x 56cm. Courtesy: the artist and Olsen Gallery, Sydney.

Since the early 1980s, Charlie Sheard has explored the history of painting in his work. Via prehistoric caves, Baroque architectures, and White Cube museums, the artist maintains that his medium has always been physical and sensual by nature, long before it found traction in intellectual discourses.

Thought, nor narrative, are pursuits of Sheard’s, who instead considers himself a conduit for the direct transference of bodily energy onto his canvas or paper. This apparent freedom, from form and consciousness, was earned over many years learning and teaching the painstaking techniques and theories of colour practiced by famed Old Masters.

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