After years toiling as the "the oldest promising young artist in the Pacific Northwest," Charles Krafft became known internationally in the 90's for confrontational works in clay that were among the first to invest craft objects with serious and sarcastic content starkly contrasting with their perceived image. In a brilliant conceptual choice, Charles Krafft uses and subverts the inherent ethnocentricity and traditionalism of craft objects to comment on "resurgent regionalism," war, politics and disaster. The way Charles Krafft eschews the usual careerism in the arts and finds alternative ways, is just as radical and political, as is the choice of influences: 60's comix, and the aesthetics and themes of Industrial-, surf- and custom car cultures.
"Charles Krafft is my name, America is my nation, Seattle is my dwelling place, and art is my salvation."
For the last 15 years I have been working in ceramics, before that I was a painter. I am now considered a pioneer of the "low brow" Pop Surrealism movement. This is an alternative visual art scene that has its roots in California custom car culture, surfing culture and in '60s era underground comix. It's a streetwise aesthetic that has been evolving and spreading out across the globe while remaining almost entirely unnoticed by most mainstream critics, museum curators and academic art historians. It has only recently begun to be documented. It exists on the internet and by word of mouth in its own parallel universe of events, magazines, galleries, shops and studios in America, Europe, Australia and Japan.
I'm also the inventor of SPONETM - human bone china - or more precisely crematory ash porcelain. SPONETM combines "bone" and "Spode" to reference Josiah Spode, the l8th century English inventor of bone china which is actually named for its calcinated cow bone ash content, not its white color. Unlike the functional SPONETM memorial reliquaries my other work, Disasterwaretm, uses the medium of ceramics to comment on violence, power, capital and catastrophes.
I am self-taught. The only art credentials I really have are the "astral apprenticeships" I served under the reclusive painter of startled birds Morris Graves (l910-2001) and the crackerjack Hollywood hot rod legend Von Dutch (l926-l992). Both men were friends and mentors. I can get down with any militantly aesthetic easel painter, multi-media maestro or woolly potter, but when it comes to the mechanics of art making I prefer the company of criminals, undertakers and blue haired grannies.
Solo Exhibitions
2010 "Pitchfork Pals", Charles Krafft & Mike Leavitt, Stolenspace, London, UK
2008 "LOL, Not your Grandmother's China", J.Flynn Gallery, Costa Mesa, CA, USA
2007 "Artist Rifles Requiem", Stolenspace, London, UK
2006 "Ceramic Sabotage", School of Art & Design, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA, USA
2005 "Darkness in Delft", Spokane Falls Community College, Spokane, WA, USA
"New Disasterware", Copro Nason Gallery, Culver City, CA, USA
2004 "Final Presentation", Europees Keramisch Werkcentrum, 's Hertogenbosch, Netherlands
2003 "Ring of Spone", Queen Anne Columbarium/Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, Seattle, WA, USA
"Never Look A Giftshoppe in the Mouth", Dirt Gallery, Hollywood, CA, USA
2002 "Charles Krafft's Villa Delirium", Grand Central Art Center, Cal. State University, Fullerton, CA, USA
"Porcelain War Museum", Copro Nason Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2001 "Charles Krafft's Villa Delirium", Cont. Art Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA
1999 Defense Ministry, Ljubljana, Slovenia
1994 Metropolitan Mobile Museum, Seattle, WA, USA
1993 Garth Clark Galleries, New York, NY, USA
Two Bells Tavern, Seattle, WA, USA
Davidson Galleries, Seattle, WA, USA
Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland, OR, USA
1991 Davidson Galleries, Seattle, WA, USA
1989 Davidson Galleries, Seattle, WA, USA
Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland, OR, USA
1987 Davidson Galleries, Seattle, WA, USA
1986 Cafe Counter Intelligence, Seattle, WA, USA
1983 The Francine Seders Gallery, Seattle, WA, USA
1982 The Meeting Place in the Market, Seattle, WA, USA
1981 The1429 Grant Avenue Gallery, San Francisco, CA, USA
1980 The Junior League Offices, Seattle, WA, USA
1979 The 1429 Grant Avenue Gallery, San Francisco, CA, USA
1978 The Foster/White Gallery, Seattle, WA, USA
1976 The Foster/White Gallery, Seattle, WA, USA
1975 The Nagatani Gallery, Burlington, WA, USA
1974 The Polly Friendlander Gallery, Seattle, WA, USA
1971 The Polly Friendlander Gallery, Seattle, WA, USA
1969 The Richard White Gallery, Seattle, WA, USA
2008 "Retinal Delights" - JUXTAPOZ Show, Laguna Art Museum, Laguna, CA, USA
"Tresspass Alliance", Andipa Gallery, London
"The Diane and Sandy Besser Collection", De Young Museum, San Francisco, CA, USA
"Objection", NCECA, Louisville, KY, USA
2007 "Bang Bang Trafic d'Armes de St.Etienne a Sete", Musee D'Arte et Industrie, St.Etienne, France
"Fragiles", Art Basel/Miami, Miami, FL, USA
2006 "The Edges of Grace - Provocative, Uncommon Craft", Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA, USA
"Von Dutch Tribute", Copro Nason Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, USA
Gallery Group Show, Stolenspace, London, UK, USA
"Softly Treathening, Art of the Modern Domestic", Bumbershoot, Seattle, WA, USA
2005 "State of the Art, the New Slovenian Avant Garde", Seattle Film Forum, Seattle, WA, USA
"Flipside", Artist's Space, New York, NY, USA
"Pop Surrealism", Sangre de Christo Art Center, Pueblo, CO, USA
"Tale to Tell, Cont. Narratives in Clay", John Michael Kohler Arts center, Sheboygan, WI, USA
"The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse", The Shooting Gallery, San Francisco, CA, USA
2004 "100 Artsts See Satan", Grand Central Art Center, Santa Ana, CA, USA
"Natural Selection", Santa Fe Clay, Santa Fey, NM, USA
2003 "Now & Now", 2nd Annual World Ceramics Biennale, Inceon, Korea
"Dictatorship of the New", NSK Sound Icons, Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
"Gun and Wound", White Box the Annex, New York, NY, USA
"Sex and Violence", F.I.N. Arts Inc., New York, NY, USA
"Girls and Guns", 31 Grand, New York, NY, USA
2002 "Break 12 - Dead or Alive", Kapilica Gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia
"Blue + White = Radical", Garth Clark Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2000 "2000 1/2," Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA, USA
1995 "Imagine That!", Lucia Douglas Gallery, Bellingham, WA, USA
"Northwest Noir", Vox Populi Gallery, Seattle, WA, USA
"Sex and Satan", Two Bells Tavern, Seattle, WA, USA
"Project:Exhibit", Maryland Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA
1994 "Cult Rapture", COCA, Seattle, WA, USA
Group Exhibition, Bess Cutler Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Group Exhibition, Gallery of Funtional Art, Santa Monica, CA, USA
1993 "Kustom Grafix", The Works Gallery, C osta Mesa, CA, USA
"Shipwreck Show", Kirkland Arts Center, Kirkland, WA, USA
1992 "Skagit Artists", Valley Museum of NW Art, La Conner, WA, USA
"Futures Past", Port Angeles Fine Arts Center, Port Angeles, WA, USA
1990 "Tortures and Torments" La Luz de Jesus, Los Angeles, CA, USA
"Silent Interiors", Security Pacific Gallery, WA, USA
1989 "Counterfeit Masterpieces", COCA, Seattle, WA, USA
1987 Group Exhibition, Childers/Proctor Gallery, Langley, WA, USA
Group Exhibition, NBBJ Associates, Seattle, WA, USA
1986 "Poets/Painters", Whatcom Musseum, Bellingham, WA, USA
Group Exhibition, Penryn Gallery, Seattle, WA, USA
1982 Vernissage, Mr. and Mrs. Kirby Torrence, Seattle, WA, USA
1981 "Northwest/New York," Bayard Gallery, New York, NY, USA
1980 "Northwest/New York," Bayard Gallery, New York, NY, USA
1979 Group Exhibition, Nagatani Gallery, Burlington, WA, USA
1978 Group Exhibition, Nagatani Gallery, Burlington, WA, USA
1977 Group Exhibition, Foster/White Gallery, Seattle, WA, USA
1976 Group Exhibition, Nagatani Gallery, Burlington, WA, USA
1975 "Asparagus Moonlight Group", Second Storey Gallery, Seattle, WA, USA
Group Exhibition, Nagatani Gallery, Burlington, WA, USA
1971 Group Exhibition, Polly Friendlander Gallery, Seattle, WA, USA
Group Exhibition, Polly Friendlander Gallery, Seattle, WA, USA
1970 Group Exhibition, 76 Main St, Gallery, Seattle, WA, USA
1969 Group Exhibition, Richard White Gallery, Seattle, WA, USA
1968 Group Exhibition, The Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA, USA
Group Exhibition, Rogue Gallery, Eugene, OR, USA
Group Exhibition, Attica Gallery, Seattle, WA, USA
1967 Group Exhibition, The Vorpal Galleries, San Fravcisco, CA, USA
Group Exhibition, Collector's Gallery, Bellevue, WA, USA
Group Exhibition, Attica Gallery, Seattle, WA, USA
2000 Cincinnati Contemporary Art Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA
1989 The 62nd Northwest Annual, COCA, Seattle, WA, USA
1986 Seattle Design Association, Traver Sutton Gallery, Seattle, WA, USA
1985 Bumpershoot Arts Festival, Seattle, WA, USA
1984 "100 Bucks Flat," Langley, WA, USA
1983 "100 Bucks Flat," Langley, WA, USA
1980 Bumpershoot Arts Festival, Seattle, WA, USA
1979 Northwest Invitational, Whatcom Museum, Bellingham, WA, USA
1976 The Langley Arts and Craft Festival, Langley, WA, USA
The La Conner Arts and Crafts Festival, La Conner, WA, USA
The Edmonds Arts Festival, Edmonds, WA, USA
1974 "Skagit Valley Artists", Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA, USA
1971 The 57th Northwest Annual, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA, USA
1970 The Edmonds Arts Festival, Edmonds, WA, USA
The Governor's Invitational, Olympia, WA, USA
1968 The 54th Northwest Annual, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA, USA
1967 The Unitarian Fine Arts Festival, Seattle, WA, USA
The Anacortes Arts and Crafts Festival, Anacortes, WA, USA
1995 Arts Liunk/Citizen's Exchange Council Grant, New York, NY, USA
1991 D.B. Huston Literary Award, Seattle, WA, USA
1984 Reginald A. Fessenden Foundation (Extension), San Diego, CA, USA
1983 Reginald A. Fessenden Foundation Grant, San Diego, CA, USA
1982 Reginald A. Fessenden Foundation Grant, San Diego, CA, USA
1977 Third Place, Langley Arts and Craft Festival, Langley, WA, USA
1976 Third Place, Langley Arts and Craft Festival, Langley, WA, USA
1967 Juror's Choice, Unitarian Fine Arts Festival, Seattle, WA, USA
1993 Commemorative Plates, Sinclair Lewis/Dorthy Thompson House, Twin Farms Inn, Barnard, VT, USA
1990 Wall Piece, Wild Ginger Restaurant, Seattle, WA, USA
1969 Mural, Western Washington State University, Bellingham, WA, USA
1968 Mural, Jean Paul Sarte No Exit Rooming House, Seattle, WA, USA
1992 "Leeteg of Tahhiti", /CAD, A HANDBOOK FOR HEELS/, Feral House Inc., Los Angeles, CA, USA
1979 Illustrations, /IN GOD'S COUNTRY/, Glen Turner, Tamarak Press, La Conner, WA, USA
1975 Editor, /THE TALES OF UNCLE TOMPA, LEGENDARY RASCAL OF TIBET/, Rinjing Dorje, Dorje Ling Publications, San Rafael, CA, USA
1976 /NEAR THE MOUTH OF THE MASK/, Charles Krafft, Endless Despair Press, Seattle, WA, USA
1973 /COW TALES/, Seven Fishtown Poets, Gritty Ink, Fishtown, WA, USA
1986 PARAMOUNT POETS, Alan and Tina Goodin, Seattle, WA, USA
1976 SKAGIT VALLEY ARTISTS, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA, USA
1969 EMPTY RIVER (What About Charlie?), Joseph McCarthy, Brooklyn, WA, USA
Puget Sound Mail, La Conner, WA, USA
Puget Soundings, Seattle, WA, USA
The Helix, Seattle, WA, USA
Northwest Passage, Bellingham, WA, USA
The Sullivan Slough Review, Edmonds, WA, USA
Skagit Valley Artists, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA, USA
The Weekly, Seattle, WA, USA
The Argus, Seattle, WA, USA
The Seattle Post Intelligencer, Seattle, WA, USA
The Seattle Times, Seattle, WA, USA
Northwest Review of Books, Seattle, WA, USA
Everett Herald, Everett, WA, USA
Fessenden Review, San Diego, CA, USA
Northwest Illustrated Art Paper, Seattle, WA, USA
Reflex, Seattle, WA, USA
The Rocket, Seattle, WA, USA
The Stranger, Seattle, WA, USA
Vision,. A Review of NW Art, Seattle, WA, USA
America Ceramics, New York, NY, USA
Art Forum, New York, NY, USA
Art Alternatives, New York, NY, USA
Juxtapoz, San Francisco, CA, USA
