Carl Chapple

Carl Chapple is a British portrait painter, who studied at St Martin’s School of Art in London. Originally from Dartmoor in the South of England, he is now living and working in South Wales.

As a young artist, Chapple travelled widely in Greece, Turkey and Italy where he developed an interest in Classical and Renaissance painting. On his return to the UK, he continued this line of discovery by working from the human form, painting primarily nudes and later, portraiture.

In 2014, Chapple began working with comedians, actors and dancers in a project that culminated in sixty portraits. This turned out to be key to his current work with the Welsh Ballet and the fascination with which he paints dancers. In these portraits he explores the similarities of the two disciplines: the gestural dynamism of the paintbrush on the canvas mimics the grace of the dancers on the stage.

Chapple’s work is held in private collections abroad and in the UK, and is featured in the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art Cymru. Chapple is presently an artist in residence for the Welsh international ballet company, Ballet Cymru. He is also a member of the Royal Cambrian Academy of Arts.