Charly Palmer is known for saying “Art should change the temperature in a room.” And for more than 30 years, his art has spoken for itself. In every painting, Palmer bears witness to African ancestry and contemporary experiences—rhythmic, visual stories that shift what each viewer believes. As a fine artist who paints upwards of 50 paintings a year, he has an innate awareness of documenting the intricacies of Blackness with depth, patterns, symbols, and textures.
By existing at the intersection of creative expression and the Black experience and accepting the guidance of his ancestors, he creates, authors, and magnifies the truth and depth of Blackness. From loose sketches and tight lines to blocks of color and nuances of mixed media, his art manifests in visual expressions to the questions, “What came before?” and “What truth must be told?”
Palmer was selected by John Legend in 2020 to create a cover portrait for his Grammy Award-winning Bigger Love album. He was also commissioned by TIME Magazine to create the cover art and illustrations for their “America Must Change” July 2020 issue, based on his 20 years’ experience painting on the subject of race.
Since 2021, Palmer has served as creative director for the Los Angeles Lakers’ In the Paint, a competitive annual art program recognizing LA-based BIPOC artists. He also created the cover of the NBA’s 75th anniversary edition 2K22 video game. Most recently, Palmer’s work has expanded to the metaverse with original NFTs for several TIME Magazine TIMEPieces collections and a Kayvon Thibodeaux NFT Football
Collectible.
His book illustrations included The Legend of Gravity, There’s A Dragon In My Closet, Rainy Day Rocketship, I Can Write the World, All Boys are Blue and Mama Africa—a children’s book chronicling the life of Miriam Makeba–for which he received the 2018 Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award.
ArtCatto is thrilled to be representing such an amazing artist in Portugal.
