Charlie Godet Thomas is a British-Bermudian artist whose work employs a wide range of approaches including writing, painting, sculpture, assemblage, photography, sound and video. His work is concerned with the connections between visual art and literature, the act of writing, the autobiographical, the tragic and the humorous.
Charlie Godet Thomas' work is summoned from unlikely places such as bookbinding processes, street signage, funereal foam lettering and pharmaceutical packaging. His painted poetic works, which he refers to as Illuminated Manuscripts, bridge the stylistic qualities of newspaper cartoon strips merging them with a more Blakean approach to pairing writing and imagery. His approach combines historical and contemporary methodologies to form his own material counterpoint in which to interrogate the mediums he uses.
In his audio-visual works, Thomas sources and re-presents found texts, projecting the words into a space of contemplation and stillness for the listener away from the context in which they were originally written. In a deadpan voice, Thomas speaks the words in a continual loop, pointing us towards the inconsistencies and problems of language.
Charlie Godet Thomas (b.1985, London, UK. British/Bermudian) currently lives and works between Mexico City, MX and London, UK. He studied a BA in Fine Art (Sculpture) at Manchester School of Art (2009) and an MA in Fine Art (Sculpture) at the Royal College of Art, London (2014), where he was awarded the Bermuda Arts Council Scholarship and the Peter Leitner Scholarship. Past residencies include: Fundación Casa Wabi (2023); Caribbean Linked IV at Ateliers ’89 in Oranjestad, Aruba (2016); Tarrant County College, Fort Worth, Texas, US (2017); and Atelier Mondial, Basel, CH (2017).
Thomas has been exhibited internationally at galleries, institutions, biennials and fairs, including: Museo Jumex, Mexico City, MX; BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, UK; Somerset House, London, UK; 2022, 2020, 2018, 2016, 2014 and 2012 Bermuda Biennial, The Bermuda National Gallery, BM; Ladrón galería, Mexico City, MX; Carillon Gallery, Texas, US; VITRINE Basel, CH and London, UK; Assembly Point, London, UK; N.A.S.A.L., Mexico City, MX; Nicoletti Contemporary, London, UK; Paradise Works, Manchester, UK; Bloc Projects, Sheffield, UK; Cactus, Liverpool, UK; Home-Platform, Bristol, UK; Telfer Gallery, Glasgow, UK; RCA/ ECA Edinburgh Sculpture Court, Edinburgh, UK; Vernacular Institute, Mexico City, MX; Colector, Monterrey, MX; Ballon Rouge, Brussels, BE; Standpoint Gallery, London, UK; Material Vol.7, Mexico City, MX; Frieze Sculpture 2019, London, UK; POPPOSITIONS, Brussels, BE; The Manchester Contemporary, Manchester, UK. He was commissioned for SCULPTURE AT Bermondsey Square, London in 2017.
Current/forthcoming exhibitions include the group show 'Homesick' at JO-HS, Mexico City, MX and a solo exhibition at TACO!, London, UK.
Nadim Abbas, Nicole Bachmann, Edwin Burdis, Kara Chin, Anaïs Comer, Tim Etchells, Jamie Fitzpatrick, Ludovica Gioscia, Katrin Hanusch, Candice Jacobs, Sophie Jung, Rene Matić, Campbell McConnell, Paula Pinho Martins Nacif, Milly Peck, Sam Porritt, Ralph Pritchard, Natasha Rees, Bioni Samp, James Stopforth, and Charlie Godet Thomas.