Fred Charap

Fred’s studio as seen by Barbara Kossy A marvelous “studio perspective” as seen by the photographer Barbara Kossy.
Fred Charap’s experience in the world of jazz, in the New Yorkof the 60’s, whenhewas a “band boy” for the greatest musicians, like CountBasie and his orchestra. Many a night until the early hours of the morning he worked famous clubs like the Jazz Gallery, the Village Vanguard, and Birdland, listening to Thelonius Monk, Miles Davis, Steve Lacey and others. see more »
Walls are both legible texts and inpenetratable barriers. By building walls with brick-sized pieces of canvas, layering them with color, material and glue, then cutting into them with tools and razor blades, I am trying to reinact in myself the passage of the Jewish people through history. see more »
The emptied-out spaces that populate these paintings configure cultural loss. Then the painting is unpainted: the fresh color and the images are arduously scraped away with small knives. What remains is the painting's memory and disappearance. see more »
History has always used urban spaces to create ghettos of outsiders. In these drawings the claustrophobic walled-in perspective and simplified black and white linearity attempt to reduce the human to shadow and profile. Humiliation and cultural annihilation become more easily acceptable. see more »

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