I want my paintings to be abstract, direct, urban, basic, modest, pure, simple, silent, honest, absolute
— Alan Charlton
British painter Alan Charlton emerged in the early 1970s at a moment when Minimalism, post-Minimalism, and hard-edge abstraction were reshaping the possibilities of painting and sculpture. His work resonates with the formal clarity of artists such as Ellsworth Kelly and with the modular, materially attentive investigations characteristic of American and European minimalism.
Within this landscape, Charlton developed a singular position defined by extreme precision, disciplined restraint, and a sustained commitment to the sculptural potential of the painted surface. It was also against this backdrop that Charlton made the pivotal decision to work exclusively with the color grey—a choice that has shaped his practice for more than five decades.
Rather than functioning as a neutral absence, grey became for him a rich instrument, a means of investigating physicality, tone, and surface without the distractions of chromatic expression. In tandem with this chromatic discipline, Charlton employs a distinctive vocabulary of forms—modules, notches, crosses, and other geometric articulations—that ties his practice to minimalist sculpture as well as to painting. These structural interventions activate the paintings’ meticulously controlled surfaces, allowing rhythm to develop through subtle shifts, repetition, and the play of light across relief.
Born in Sheffield in 1948, Charlton studied at Sheffield School of Art, Camberwell School of Art, and the Royal Academy Schools, London. Major solo exhibitions have been held at Museum Kurhaus Kleve (2008) and the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (2001). Charlton held his first solo exhibition at Konrad Fischer Galerie, Düsseldorf, in 1972. That same year, the Whitechapel Gallery, London, presented his first institutional solo exhibition, a defining moment that introduced his work to a wider public. He has participated in significant group exhibitions, most notably documenta 7, Kassel (1982). His works have also been shown at institutions including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, and the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven.
Charlton’s works are held in numerous public collections, including the ARCO Foundation Collection; Espace de l’Art Concret, Mouans-Sartoux; FNAC + CNAP Fonds national d’art contemporain, Paris; the Hall Art Foundation, Schloss Derneburg Museum; MuHKA – Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp; Museu Berardo, Lisbon; Trevi Flash Art Museum, Italy; and ZKM | Karlsruhe.
Charlton lives and works in England.