CHARLOTTE ROSE
It’s a sunny day in East London as we enter the studio of Scottish-born artist and model Charlotte Rose. High ceilings, exposed brick, and industrial windows fill the space with light, making it a perfect setting for painting. The studio shouts of a creative mind brimming with ideas: brushes, paints, and items that inspire and inform Charlotte's work, dot the space, as well as vintage clothes and shoes that hint at her personal style. A line of her works hangs to dry across the wall. She has quickly gained attention for imagery that melds literary ideas and mid-century branding, exploring consumer culture, nostalgia, collective memory, identity, and aspiration. Her early works, which first drew wider attention, are infused with a hyper-real, pop-art aesthetic where bold blocks of colour and graphic lines are tempered with painterly textural elements. In the studio, the works we see show an artist refining her craft, changing her lines and textures, and testing her language.
Words by Leigh Maynard.
Photographed by Edwin S Freyer. Styled by Alton Hetariki. Makeup by Anna Payne at Blend Management using CHANEL Coco Mademoiselle Make-up Collection and No.1 de CHANEL Body Serum-In-Mist. Hair by Valerie Benavides at Premier Hair & Makeup using Hair by Sam McKnight. Socials by Boram Lee. Charlotte appears courtesy of Premier Talents.
Language is exactly where she began, initially graduating with a degree in creative writing, she did not set out to follow a painterly path; the shift happened organically, yet her literary background still feels integral. “I was always creative, and I really wanted to study art and fine art at GCSE and A-level. My parents pushed me towards more academic, creative subjects, so I was only really allowed to take English Lit, Creative Writing, and English Language. I did my university degree in those, and I was good at them. What I enjoyed most about creative writing was the world-building. I was thrown into lockdown as a new graduate, and I suddenly had time, so I started painting because it’s something I really enjoyed. It soon became obvious that it was something I should’ve been doing all along. It came very naturally. As soon as I started painting, it was almost a sense of grief; I thought, ‘I’ve wasted all this time and money.’ But my literature and creative writing background has really informed my work and given me a strong foundation for building narrative, concepts, and ideas in a way I wouldn’t have had without that education. So, I’m grateful for it.”
Much of Charlotte’s early artwork was rooted in literature and theatre. “I had an exhibition in 2023 called the Shakespeare Tobacco Company, where I took Shakespearean themes and applied them to the branding of cigarette boxes. I studied a lot of Shakespeare in school and at university, so it was something I knew about. I found Macbeth and Big Tobacco had a nice synergy, and I liked the phrase ‘a dagger of the mind,’ which I put in the Macbeth boxes. Some beautiful opportunities came out of it. I went to Massachusetts and did a show in the Red Lion Inn, and with Shakespeare & Company in Massachusetts. Then I did a show in Perth, Scotland, in a museum. They had a first-edition folio of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Lady Macbeth’s costume that Dame Judi Dench wore when she played her, and one of my Macbeth paintings. I felt there was a nice tie to theatre, literature, and art, and that show led me into a world of theatre that I hadn’t previously been involved in.”
Through her adept handcraftsmanship, her independent spirit, and the help of technology, Charlotte has had an opportunity that has eluded many artists: to find her audience autonomously. “The first two shows I did were independent. They were in a gallery, but I hired the space myself and thought, ‘F*** it.’ I like that anarchist approach. I used social media to promote the work and sell out the show myself, and I was able to bypass the gatekeepers. I’ve found my audience through Instagram and TikTok by posting my process and documenting the putting-together of an independent show. I was 22 when I finished my first show. There was an element of people thinking, ‘Wow, this young girl is doing this pretty ballsy thing,’ which caught a lot of traction. I’ve worked with galleries like Maddox Gallery and the West Chelsea Contemporary Gallery in America, and one in Miami. This year in November I’m going back to my roots and doing an independent show, because I missed the process of curation as well, and I like to be part of the process from beginning to end.”
Her upcoming NoHo show will move away from the graphic aesthetic she has become well known for. Reflecting on that body of work and the apprehension that can arise when deviating from a signature language, Charlotte explains, “For this collection I’m doing these huge watercolours. Botticelli and Florentine Renaissance angels inspire some of them. I think it all came from a place of pain because I had a breakup, and before that I was feeling quite frustrated that I’d nailed the cigarette boxes. I’d found this niche that I’m really known for, and I was terrified to step outside of it because when you find something that works really well, if you try something different and it’s not well received, you’re like, ‘F***.’” Charlotte’s resolve and her ability to diversify, have taken her far, and she explains how challenges are sometimes what galvanise fresh thinking. “I felt like I was doing myself a disservice [before] because I was no longer really challenging myself. And then I just needed this catalyst of the rug being pulled from beneath me to give me the power and the tenacity to try something different. And it’s really worked, and I’m going to do the show in November.”
Throughout her work, there is a drive to preserve the tactile nature of her process and the artisanal techniques that resonate with her. “I've always been really drawn to gold leafing. I'm really obsessed with anything to do with the history of monarchs or the church; a lot of the art made in the medieval period was hand-gilded gold leaf and oil. Every painting that I've ever made has at least something gold-leafed on it. I love how ancient that process is. I also think oil is a very important process to get right because if you don't follow the rules, then it can crack and fall apart, and it won't last as long. I've started painting on canvas recently, but I much prefer wood, especially for the graphic stuff because it reminds me of old sign writing, creating a nice synergy between the style of the work and the old hand sign writing.”
Interestingly, in a time when AI appears to pose a risk to our creativity, Charlotte doesn’t see it that way. “I'm trying to be very optimistic, but I do feel like AI isn't a threat to craft. The mere fact that a human hand has made the work and articulated the human experience and put in the time, which is so precious, I think that is way more valuable and cannot be replaced, and I feel maybe naively confident that it will be okay.”
Charlotte’s work model infuses her art as she reflects how time with accomplished creatives played a pivotal part in her spirit of enquiry, as did that vintage feel we see around the studio, which comes into play in some of her more geometric pieces. “I think, especially with the graphic stuff that I first did, I was inspired by old 1960s Vogue magazines. I was tearing out the adverts in them. I just found it very sexy, and I loved that kind of era of Mad Men. I have been a model since I was 18, and I wanted to be involved in the creative process. I was always asking questions, and I was curious, and I think being surrounded by such inspiring people from such an early age was invaluable.”
As for the future, she explains, "I'm working on a documentary that my friend Vinny's doing. He's following me around and watching me work. He came to Rankin's photo shoot with me, and they just filmed my life and the coming together of this new exhibition. I don't know when it'll come out or where it will land, but it's an exciting process to be involved in. A lot is going on, and I feel like I'm running at 1,000 miles an hour."
Charlotte's story exemplifies how the journey is often as important as the result. Her continuing sense of curiosity and strivance for evolution in her craft is evident in each new creation. Her work also demonstrates the profoundly human connection between narrative and handcrafted arts. Literature brings us stories through language, while craft does so through materials and texture. Both are inspired by the human experience and hand, inviting us to slow down, pay attention, find meaning in our own stories and experiences, and connect with others. What strikes us though, is that through her dialogue between literature and art, craftsmanship and tech and its democratising power, Charlotte dextrously navigates her world as a handcrafted artist in a thoroughly modern way, and proves that old skills, new concepts, and emerging technologies can coexist harmoniously.
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