Gerry Charm is a local graphic designer and artist. “I wanted to earn some money over my Social Security so I looked for freelance work as a graphic designer and built a business doing that.”
WHAT GENRE OF ART DO YOU PRODUCE?
Collage, the art of pasting pieces of objects together onto a surface, has been his main artistic endeavor for the last four years. His first exposure to the art form was in 1975 when he lived in Mexico. Specifically, he practiced decoupage.
WHAT IS DECOUPAGE?
“It is usually done on boxes, shoes and the like. Collage is done more on artboard or canvas. Sometimes it’s called assemblage when put into deep shadowboxes.”
WHY DID YOU GET INTO DOING COLLAGES?
“I was always interested in the art scene. I met a lady who was teaching at Florida Community College at Jacksonville. She formed a group interested in collage and I got very involved in doing it. I’m a pack rat by nature, always saving images I liked. I was doing cut and paste in graphic design anyway.”
WHERE DID YOU
PICK UP YOUR IMAGES?
“When I was in the service during World War II, I spent two and a half years in England, six months in France and five months in Hawaii. I gathered things from all those places.”
WHAT’S YOUR STYLE LIKE?
“I love to use color in a subtle way so that it relates to everything I’m doing. It’s never jarring. It ties all of the elements together.”
WHERE IS YOUR ART DISPLAYED?
“I have a couple of pieces at the cultural center in Ponte Vedra Beach. I will also have something in the JCVA [Jacksonville Coalition for the Visual Arts] show opening mid-July at FCCJ’s Wilson Gallery.” Recently, SuperStock sold one of his images to publisher Prentice-Hall for use as a book cover. Charm also participated in the Jacksonville Symphony Guild’s hand-painted violin fundraiser. He has exhibited at Reddi-Art’s Gallery 1037, the Vandroff Gallery inside the Jewish Community Alliance, Viscosity Gallery and the now-defunct Alford Ackerman Gallery.
CHARMED LIFE
“Art was important to me from childhood on. When I was eight, my mother let me go to the Pratt Institute to draw and get lessons. Growing up, I would go to Brooklyn Museum and sketch, and in high school I did extracurricular work in art. It’s always been a fascination for me. It gratifies me. I’m happy when I’m cutting and pasting and the work is coming along the way I hoped it would. When a stranger likes your work enough to purchase it, that’s really thrilling.”
WHAT’S MOST CHALLENGING ABOUT COLLAGE?
“Finding the right components is important. I start with an image of what I want and sometimes it’s a matter of chance that I’ll find just the thing. Sometimes I have to put it aside for a long period until I find those things.”
HOW DID YOU GET INTO THE ART SCENE?
“I started as an apprentice to a commercial artist during the Great Depression. I met a number of people and saw a lot of shows. From there, I went from one job to another, working for label manufacturers, printers and finally, advertising agencies.”
HOMETOWN
New York City.
THE JOYS OF HOME OWNERSHIP
Charm’s studio is behind his home in Mandarin where he and his wife Marian reside.
CHARMING CHILDREN
At age 84, Charm has two sons, Orrin and Jonathan, a daughter, Jennifer, 10 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
HOW TO SPOT A FRAUD
“I see wonderful work done everywhere but I also see bad art being acclaimed that I don’t understand at all. It bothers me because I know good art from bad art. We see the work of artists from the early ages to recent years and I wonder if the contemporary work will be recognized as art 50 years from now.”
WHAT CONSTITUTES
BAD ART?
“I define bad art as drawing or painting by untalented people who never learned to draw properly. A lot of what I see is vulgar and sometimes obscene. I look through magazines like Art in America and see things shown at prestigious galleries and I don’t know why people would buy it. I guess I’m more of a traditionalist. I believe in freedom of expression; people should do what’s important for them but I don’t have to like it.”
CHARM YOUR
WAY RIGHT IN
Charm is a member of Jacksonville Coalition for the Visual Arts, First Coast Collage Society and the Jacksonville Camera Club.
WHO ARE YOUR MAIN INFLUENCES?
“I like the early collages of cubists Picasso, Braque and Juan Gris.”
PERSONAL INTERESTS
“My hobbies involve photography and listening to music when I’m working on collages. My musical tastes are wide — I like classical, easy listening, some rock and roll. Since I moved back to the United States, my other favorite thing to do is travel to the Western states.” Reading art magazines, visiting museums, dining at The Tree Steak House or watching movies are some other interests.