Charles Swisher’s background in art is considerably varied. He earned his MFA from Parsons School of Design in NYC; he also studied at Crewe and Alsager College in England, Salzburg, Austria and at Kutztown University in PA. From 1985- 1987 he studied sumi-e painting and literature in Japan with painter Tetsuo Ando. From 1987 to 1993 he worked for painters Paul Resika and Nell Blaine, both Hans Hofmann students and exponents of the "Second Generation New York School". Among numerous awards and honors are residencies at Chateau Rochefort-en-terre in Brittany, France; at the Oberpfalzer Kunstlerhaus in Bavaria, Germany; fellowships at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the Vermont studio Center, the Millay Colony among others. He has also received two Helena Rubenstein scholarships while studying at Parsons. Selected exhibitions include the Synchronicity Space, NYC; numerous exhibits at the Bowery Gallery, 530W 25th St. NY, NY 10001, the Demuth Foundation as well as at the Dana Gallery of the Phillips Museum of art at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, PA where Charles lives and works.
"In all of this work, landscapes and portraits encompassing a number of years, I have strived to be as objective as possible. It is the formal character of the subject, its form, quality of composition, and the color that I am interested in. I reject the literal, subjective, sentimental, social, etc., and ultimately seek to stimulate both eye and mind with an economy of means in manifesting what I respond to in painting."
ABOVE: Charles & Mariko Swisher Docustory,FIG Lancaster, MoxieHouse
In the 2-18-2000 artnet.com Magazine Reviews- Drawing notebook, New York Art Historian and Critic N. F. Karlins writes, "Charles Swisher’s show of recent paintings at the Bowery Gallery shows an artist stretching into new territory." Critic Tom Knapp of the Intelligencer Journal in Lancaster, PA reviewed Swisher’s solo show at he Demuth Foundation in 1995. "His oils and acrylics of urban rooftops, executed at his home in Queens, are well made with just the right touches of impasto. They have a well- developed sense of color… His paintings are straightforward, clear and unaffected images which let the viewer fill in the blanks."
Charles Swisher’s background in art is considerably varied. He earned his MFA from Parsons School of Design in NYC; he also studied at Crewe and Alsager College in England, Salzburg, Austria and at Kutztown University in PA. From 1985- 1987 he studied sumi-e painting and literature in Japan with painter Tetsuo Ando. From 1987 to 1993 he worked for painters Paul Resika and Nell Blaine, both Hans Hofmann students and exponents of the "Second Generation New York School". Among numerous awards and honors are residencies at Chateau Rochefort-en-terre in Brittany, France; at the Oberpfalzer Kunstlerhaus in Bavaria, Germany; fellowships at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the Vermont studio Center, the Millay Colony among others. He has also received two Helena Rubenstein scholarships while studying at Parsons. Selected exhibitions include the Synchronicity Space, NYC; numerous exhibits at the Bowery Gallery, 530W 25th St. NY, NY 10001, the Demuth Foundation as well as at the Dana Gallery of the Phillips Museum of art at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, PA where Charles lives and works.