Charles Avery

Through an extended series of meticulous drawings and bold sculptures, London-based artist Charles Avery has created a fictional land simply called “the Island.” Avery’s entire body of work since 2004 has been devoted to the exploration and expansion of the customs, people, and cosmologies of this imagined place. Most recently, he has focused on the capital city of Onomatopoeia, where its denizens (who resemble humans) attend art openings, ride bikes, and wear clothing that resists identification with any single era, country, or culture. By conjuring this ahistorical, apolitical world, Avery addresses themes of utopia, dystopia, and globalization.