registered a business under his name, and developed a website through which he could sell his work. Across time, his dream has become a reality.
Time (or time reconfigured), it seems, may be a key to understanding Charlie’s condition – and quite possibly, his work. This became clear when talking with Charlie and his mother about his most recent work, “Morning in Paris.” Charlie had been watching The Hunchback of Notre Dame with his brother, Will. Both brothers enjoy the movie, and it was after watching it that the inspiration for the series was born. There, on paper and canvas, one sees both inspiration and creativity merge: the towers emerging, bathed in golden light.
It is here we find the spark that comes not from working and sharing with others, but from within himself. Charlie’s condition has the effect of pushing him backwards into his strongest memories, whether of image or sound. You see that in the Paris paintings, generated from his long love for that particular film and city; you
see it in his “Gum” paintings, brought forth
through pattern and color of his experience with bubblegum; and you see it in his series entitled “In the Fathoms Below,” inspired by
The Little Mermaid. In those remembrances, Charlie finds a calming influence, he finds happiness. As Charlie says,
Yes, I have Down syndrome, but first I want you to see me: Charlie French. And then I want you to see my art. I am an abstract artist. I am an intuitive artist. I embrace a blank canvas with a sense of wonder and adventure. I work hard, I keep learning but mostly I let go, be FREE and have FUN.
Such a person, such a story, serves to remind us of the individual whose personal story makes meaningful what so many theorists on human dignity and what living a dignified human existence try to understand and explain. Charlie is not some abstraction. He is defining his life and living his life to its fullest. French is a person, full of character, who looks directly in your eyes when you speak and who answers every question directly and with confidence. He is real, not defined through his condition but
Video Courtesy of:
Charlie French
.
69