Artist Statement and Updates

Self taught non-academic artist Charles Wince migrated to the Columbus New Wave music/art scene from rural Ohio in 1983. He began to hang his artwork in bars, trendy clothing stores as well as write and illustrate articles in local music fanzines. This led to his participation in the small number of independent galleries around the Ohio Sate Campus area. In '85 he was "discovered by N.Y.C.'s Whitney Of Modern Art curator Barbara Haskel who had come to Columbus to curate an art exhibit for O.S.U. From then on he was acknowledged by the Academic art scene as well as the local media and many articles and interest followed him and his work. However, despite high expectations, career wise, things did not develop as hoped. It was unfortunate for him that the underling dark themes of his work, were much more personal than he cared to admit even to himself and a crippling depression set in that sabotaged not only his production of new artwork but on his person as well. The next 10 years saw him produce some interesting artwork but only in periodic bursts. During that time he was labeled an "Outsider Artist" by some critics and in '91 was included in the Museum Of American Folk Art Encyclopedia, an extensive authoritative book of such artwork.

It was not till '94 that Wince "straightened out some things in my head" and embarked on a gigantic 12 ft x 6 ft painting, Mother Russia Meltdown. It's subject matter having to do with the collapse of The Soviet Union "by the forces of Capitalism and internal greed". The painting it's self is finely detailed to an almost masochistic degree, containing hundreds of characters and objects. It debuted in '96 to unanimous praise as the central piece of his one man show Attack of the 50 ft. Non Sequiturs at The Acme Art Company in Columbus. Recently he has reworked this gonzo painting adding extra figures, objects and "fine tuning" existing elements.

Recently there seems to be renewed interest in the artist and his work, it's as if he's gone from being the "hot young artist" in the 80's to "What ever happened to...?" in the 90's , to "sort of a legend" in 2010. The present time finds the artist surprisingly well adjusted and down right happy with his lot in life. Dogs no longer growl when he enters a room and he's" safe" around small children.

The present time, at age 56, finds him remarkably good spirits.