Charles Hardaker was born in 1934. He studied at Birmingham College of Arts and Crafts and after completing National Service in 1955 he spent three years at the Royal College of Art in London, (Queen̛̛s Scholar) ARCA 1958.

He became a member of the New English Art Club in 1969 and The Royal Society of British Artists in 1984. He paints still life, interiors, landscapes, philosophical/scriptural subjects and portraits.

He has work in the permanent collections of the Tate Gallery, The Guildhall of London, the GLC, the National Library of Wales, the Institution of Civil Engineers and numerous private collections in the UK and overseas including the USA, Canada, Japan and Greece.

Artist Statement:

̛̛ it forms part of a series on a theme (or rather multiple themes) which is still developing.......Motives for the paintings in general (as much as one dare to define them!) are architectural and philosophical in that the basically cubic container form has been connected with the cube/earth symbol in Platơ̛s "Timaeus" . But also ̛̛things as they are̛̛ is as important as any intellectual idea so that the paintings retain strong roots in things seen̛̛.

In 1996 he wrote of ̛̛Still Life : Vertical Structures, and Three Times Three̛̛ (in the Tate Collection)

Exhibitions

Major commissions include paintings of the BP Oil Terminal Sullom Voe, the Kielder Resevoir for Northumbria Water, murals for the Howard Hotel, London, the building of the Channel Tunnel for Eurotunnel, two cycles of paintings for Townley Hall, Ireland based on the Seven Days of Genesis (7 works) and the Gospel of Thomas (11 works). Has recently finished working on the murals in fresco for a country house near Oxford.

He has had five one-man exhibitions to date, two in San Francisco and three in London. He has been a finalist in a number of competitions including the Hunting Prizes and the Lynn Painter-Stainers prize and has completed numerous portrait commissions.

He exhibits at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibitions, with the New English Art Club, the Royal Society of British Artists and at various other galleries.