Charles Basham

b. 1952, Wadsworth, OH

EDUCATION

1972      BFA, Kent State University, Kent, OH

1975     MFA, Kent State University, Kent, OH

"Sublime colorist like Courbet, Cezanne, Monet, and Matisse have shaped my sensibilities; more contemporary painters like Fairfield Porter and Rackstraw Downes have revealed the subtlety of tonalities. I am drawn to nearly any color experience in paintings that I can add to my understanding and utilization of color in my own work and assist my interpretation of nature. My inspiration has always been light and space and my ever-changing response to the medium itself as I draw or paint from someplace familiar (e.g. my father's farm in Medina, OH) and search for something unfamiliar. The work also functions personally as self-portraits since I am working from familiar grounds, constantly reexamining my personal relationship to the land. Whether focusing in or zooming out, I am aware that I have been here before but trying to inevitably lose myself in the area and see it anew."