Voice of London

Yesterday evening in Brick Lane, I had the pleasure of talking to Charlotte Rose, a new pop art artist that you should keep your eye on.

The young Londoner, who is also a model, is making her way throughout the industry as a self-taught artist with her captivating, bright and punchy paintings. 

Today, some of her paintings are being shown at the Enter Gallery’s pop up, which is going to be showcasing the work of a variety of artists from the 17th to the 27th of November. The gallery has 30 years of experience and always looks forward to conveying inclusivity, warmth and a sincere appreciation for art within all of their artists. You can discover more artworks and artists throughout their online gallery. 

What has led you to be here today, exhibiting your work at the Enter Gallery?

The Enter Gallery looks after a lot of my prints, so my work is a part of this kind of pop up. But about two years ago I had my first ever solo exhibition which I self funded and did everything myself. Then I had my second one a year ago and that one was also a solo show, but Enter Gallery had helped me with it. And then this one is a collection of a lot of their artists so it’s a group show. 

When did you decide to sell your art?

So that was probably just after lockdown. During lockdown I created my first body of work and at the end of it, when everything opened up, I did my first exhibition, so that was kind of when I started selling I guess.

How would you define your style?

I definitely call it pop art, I think it’s quite satirical and lighthearted. I’m massively inspired by the 1960s branding and fashion as well, so I love all of the vintage branding, cigarette branding… But I also do like oil branding and candy branding… A lot of vintage branding basically. 

And how or where do you get your inspiration from?

I’m massively inspired by Andy Warhol, obviously, because I think that he was the star of the pop up era. I’m also very inspired by Harland Miller, he’s a modern pop art artist too. He does all of the Penguin books covers, they’re quite famous. And asides from that, I love bright colours, electric colours, anything that is quite punchy as well. 

What’s the message behind your art?

My first exhibition was called ‘I Quit Last Week’, so during lockdown I quit cigarettes and that’s how I started doing the cigarette boxes but I found that a lot of people felt the nostalgia, they took away the cigarette branding in the UK, and I think that people were quite nostalgic about seeing the branding. And I’m very interested about how cigarette brands sold this dream, for example with Marlboro they were like “if you smoke this brand you could be like the cowboys” and the packaging is quite glamorous. So I was always interested in how the branding took something that was quite poisonous and bad for you and sold it to you in this beautiful, bold-wrapped little package.

How do you think that your art engages with the present moment? 

That’s interesting… I love anarchy and I love punk and I love saying no to capitalist society and pushing that, so I don’t know if that’s quite present but for me, that’s the message that I’m trying to put across. 

What would you say to someone who wants to start commissioning their work or showing it in a gallery?

I think that you have to be brave with it. I know a lot of artists who are really talented but they’re very shy about putting their work out there, so I would say make the artwork, and show it, and use Instagram and social media to promote it, because it’s such an amazing tool. And yeah, just don’t be shy, just go for it. 

You can see more of Charlotte’s art in her Instagram @char.lotteroseart and @char.lotterose, where she also shares her life as an artist, model, and digital creator.

Words: Argia Hernandez | Interviewee: Charlotte Rose |Subbing: Ashreya Jimi and Elitsa Maymareva | Images: Argia Hernandez