Charlie Jones is a self-taught abstract painter with over 25 years’ experience working in mixed media. His artistic path is unconventional, rooted in a lifelong commitment to exploring creativity beyond formal boundaries. Jones’s art is deeply personal, yet unmistakably global—shaped by decades of travel across continents where he immersed himself in diverse cultures, customs, and human experiences. These journeys inform the core of his work, which radiates with vivid color combinations, energetic textures, and bold yet nuanced transitions.
At the heart of Jones’s process is an exploration of the intersection between color, texture, and form. He blends a wide array of materials and techniques, creating layered compositions that invite viewers into a contemplative space.
Since 2001, Jones’s paintings have been featured in numerous exhibitions and galleries in Washington, DC, and Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, where he now resides. His compelling visual expressions have captured the attention of collectors and designers in the United States and abroad. As he continues to evolve as an artist, Jones remains committed to exploring the unity and complexities found in diversity, through the ever-changing lens of abstract expression.
My work as an abstract artist is a response and celebration of the layered, textured experience of global travel—particularly the profound influence of my time spent in Asia. From the quiet reverence of temples in Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam to the visual complexity of street life in Bangkok, Hanoi, Hong Kong, the aesthetics, philosophies, and materials I encountered throughout my travels have deeply shaped how I approach painting. These places taught me to see color not just as hue, but as atmosphere; to see space not only as composition, but as balance and tension.
My process is physical and meditative. I build each painting through multiple layers—applying, removing, scratching, and reapplying pigments, inks, and mixed media. Much like the surfaces I encountered in Asia—worn stone steps, weathered doors, faded signage—my work evolves through time (sometimes frustration) and repetition. There’s often no clear endpoint when I begin. I work until the surface starts to speak back—until a kind of quiet coherence begins to emerge.
I rarely aim to represent a specific place. Instead, I try to capture the feeling of movement, energy, color and cultural texture of a country and its people—the richness that lingers long after the journey.
One of the pleasures I find in abstraction is its openness. It allows me, and hopefully the viewer, to return to a piece again and again, discovering new details and resonances depending on the light, the time of day, or the state of mind. That shifting experience is something I deeply value and hope others find in my work.
