Charles Mayton

Mayton was born in 1974 in Florida.[1] He studied at the Ringling College of Art and Design, and received his Masters of Fine Arts from Milton Avery School of the Arts at Bard College in 2007.[1]

Mayton mimics the digital aesthetics of off-register printing, computer-aided design, and social media graphics by hand.[2] These graphics are often juxtaposed with brushy color fields.[2]

Punctuation symbols also occasion Mayton’s work, especially question- and quotation marks.[3] Mayton "quotes" the motifs, palettes, and titles of canonical painters such as Belgian surrealist René Magritte.[4]

His first solo show, The Difficult Crossing, held at Balice Hertling & Lewis in 2011, was titled after an eponymous painting by Magritte, depicting an artist’s studio.[4] Mayton’s show recreated the mise-en-scène of Magritte’s painting with several large-scale paintings; a coat rack; citrus fruits scattered across the gallery floor, referring to the surrealists’ obsession with fruit; and a doormat printed with the title of the show.[3]

Charles Mayton has held solo exhibitions at David Lewis, New York (2016);[5] American Academy in Rome, Italy,[6] and Thomas Duncan Gallery, Los Angeles (both 2015);[7] Campoli Presti, Paris (2014);[8] The Power Station, Dallas (2013);[9] Balice Hertling, Paris (2012);[10] and Balice Hertling & Lewis, New York (2011),[11] among others.

His work has been shown in group exhibitions at VAVA, Milan (2015); Thomas Dane, London (2014); Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2013);[12] SculptureCenter in Long Island City, New York (2011);[13] and White Columns, New York (2010).[14]