Charlie Calder-Potts 2025

By - 21/03/25

‘Offerings from Nara’

Private View: Sunday 6th April 2025 – Noon – 4.00pm

The Exhibition continues until: Saturday 26th April 2025

This new series of work is based on a very special project in Japan sponsored by the Daiwa Foundation. In August 2023 I joined Japanese artist Miho Nakamura and translator Chiharu Yosida on a ‘pilgrimage’ to trace the final steps of the Silk Road from shrine to temple, village to city.

Charlie Calder-Potts - Forever bound - Mixed media on bamboo papered wood panel - 36 x 36 Inches — Forever bound – Mixed media on bamboo papered wood panel – 36 x 36 Inches

For over a decade my work has followed, and been influenced by, the Silk Road; with series based on my time in Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Georgia and Tajikistan (to name a few!). The city of Nara is both the end and the beginning of this ancient route and the valuable ideas, materials and art that travelled to and from this distant post have long been something I have wished to study.

Charlie Calder-Potts - Those who guard the pass - Mixed media on silk papered panel - 8 x 7 Inches — Those who guard the pass – Mixed media on silk papered panel – 8 x 7 Inches

Of everything that was traded, paper in many ways lies at the heart of this exchange, in some instances as the most precious of treasures and, in others, a basic commodity. Japan, as the final stop of the Silk Road, is often overlooked in the Silk Road narrative, along with the votives that litter its shrines and temples.

Charlie Calder-Potts - When the wild wind sings - Mixed media on silk papered board - 5.5 x 7 Inches — When the wild wind sings – Mixed media on silk papered board – 5.5 x 7 Inches

This project allowed me to give them both the attention I feel they deserve. These votives capture history in a precious way: the scraps of paper and wooden tablets marking a person, a time, a place and in many cases a human want, need or desire. Likewise, each painting in this series tells a story. Their construction is made up of many elements; Japanese papers gifted by artisans during my journey, symbols drawn and redacted from museum artifacts, antique unused notebooks salvaged from junk shops, and ancient techniques passed down by masters.

This new series exists due to the many offerings I received and I now present them to you as votives in their own right.