In Progress: A Mid-Career Retrospective of Charles Lynn Bragg
Exhibition Schedule: January 21, 2022 to April 3, 2022
Opening Reception: Friday, February 4th from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM
Masks required indoors and social distancing outside.
The Manhattan Beach Art Center (MBAC) is proud to present: “In Progress: A Mid-Career Retrospective of Charles Lynn Bragg.” A longtime resident of Manhattan Beach, Bragg’s work has been seen by millions. You might already be familiar with his work, as it has been featured widely in art galleries, magazine covers, jigsaw puzzles, and postage stamps. Bragg is also an animal rights activist, and has worked broadly with animal rights agencies and conservatories. “In Progress” features large scale paintings, sculptures, and an immersive experience that is sure to inspire.
In the 1970’s and early 1980’s, Bragg began his career as a painter and printmaker. The son of a famous painter, Charles learned to produce his father’s prints and make his own originals. Bragg’s studies and work produced in this decade include life drawing, anatomy, etching, serigraphy, lithography, painting, photography, and ceramics.
In 1986, Bragg started a painting of a woman standing in a tropical jungle, surrounded by menacing forest animals. Frustrated with several attempts at painting a convincing figure, Bragg painted the woman out and filled the scene instead with dozens of animals, birds, and insects hidden about in the lush jungle foliage. He added a cityscape, complete with skyscrapers and a nuclear power plant in the background. Lastly, Bragg painted a bulldozer bearing down on the animals and plant life. The title of the work naturally popped into his head “City Limits.”
The environmental theme of “City Limits” struck a chord with Bragg and his audience. Depicting and conserving the Earth’s ecosystems became his purpose in life and art. He took his camera from the mountain tops to coral reefs throughout the world to photograph the ordinary and the extraordinary to combine images into animated compositions of places, things and animals.
"As an artist and person, it is my goal to treat people, animals and the environment with compassion, dignity and respect, and inspire others to do the same.”
