COPENHAGEN.- David Risley Gallery presents the American artist Charlie Roberts' third solo show at the gallery - JUICY XXL. The exhibition presents new drawings on paper and goache on canvas. From the 14th to 18th of October the gallery will participate at SUNDAY Art Fair in London with a solo project by Charlie Roberts with new modified rugs, ceramic pots and figures that samples everything from faces to leaves, fishes and abstract forms all in pastel colors.

Very few artists have the courage to just freestyle in front of a canvas – Charlie Roberts has! The result becomes full of energy, determination and a unique expression, when he makes his recognizable female figures with soft curves in bright colors on a pattern or monochrome background. A primitive brutality assimilates with a tight line that draws the women’s contour and creates a seductive and distorted realism.

Charlie Roberts is fascinated by the hip-hop culture’s parallel universe and its ability to create an illusion of a great lifestyle with expensive cars and gorgeous women all in a very cheeky attitude. The title JUICY refers to the American rapper The Notorious B.I.G.’s first single about a rapper’s own rise to the top. While XXL not only indicates the size of the show but also refers to the American hip-hop magazine XXL established in 1997.

The illusion of the good life goes on in the paintings, where young beautiful sporty women work out with a smile while the sweat trickles out, or play tennis so the racket, legs and arms are whirled into each other or even skates with a gigantic ghettoblaster. Charlie Roberts find his inspiration from the everyday life, hip-hop culture and at the same time leads your thoughts to Matisse’s women in the work La danse.

Charlie Roberts b. 1983 in Kansas, USA. He lives and works in Oslo, Norway, New York and Los Angeles, USA. Roberts is educated at Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, Vancover, Canada and Kansas University, USA. Charlie Roberts has exhibited at Richard Heller Gallery, Los Angeles. Trafo Kunsthall, Oslo. Galleri Magnus Karlsson, Stockholm. Kunsthal KAdE, Amsterfoort, Holland.