Waukesha State Bank Gallery

Artist Biography

A Wisconsin native, Chuck lives in the beautiful Kettle Moraine lake country of Wisconsin. He studied marketing and art at St. Norbert College, followed by an MBA from UW-Madison and Marquette University. This “right brain” influence led him to his “first” career, in advertising, where he was Creative Director and Principal of a Milwaukee-based ad agency and design firm. Now in his “encore” career, Chuck chases his one “true” passion, fine art.

His preference for oils and an impressionist style translate into high energy works, featuring sun-lit subjects saturated with color. His goal is to achieve bring vibrancy and movement to his work in a signature style that involves painting his subjects “backwards,” from dark to light on sanded panels, as he emulates a Fauvist approach to color in light and shadow.
“I am a student of the California impressionist school; where colorists bring intensity to their work with color value straight from the tube. In my paintings I keep the colors saturated, using violets and blues to replace black, and greens and oranges to replace browns.

“In recent years Chuck has gained a national reputation as a portrait artist. His portraits are rendered in two distinctly different styles; a subtler, photo-realistic style, and a more dramatic, narrative oil painting technique. He particularly enjoys the challenge of accomplishing a technical “likeness,” yet not allowing that goal to diminish a vibrant, dynamic work of art.”Portraits are a passion for me. Pure, unadulterated joy. A joy I am hopeful shows in my work. I relish painting people in action, particularly children, who bring such vitality to everything they do, and accomplishing this in a contemporary impressionist style. Unlike traditional portrait poses, my oils are most often ‘freeze-frames’; skewed and cropped, in blurred colors and dynamic poses that capture a ‘moment in time.'”