Charlie Emmet
Installation
On Site
Off Site
Painting
Chalk Series
Water Series
Flower Series
Photo
Film
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Charlie Emmet, (b. 2005), is a visual artist from Washington DC, and currently resides in Baltimore at the Maryland Institute College of Art, working to receive a degree in General Fine Arts. Previously, he spent time experimenting with drawing the figure at the Art Students League in New York City, and graduated from City-As-School, also located in Manhattan. Emmet’s work explores divine connection to place, specifically the abandoned Walter Reed Army Hospital located off 16th St. and Georgia Ave. in DC, where Emmet spent much of his formative years. The many decaying textures and palettes heavily influence Emmets work.
2025 Artist Statement
When I was twelve, I first entered the abandoned Walter Reed grounds in DC, a few blocks away from my home. This sight is the catalyst of my practice, and obsession with seeking out and inhabiting spaces that infest me with inexplicable profound feelings. I came back day after day, spending time with every room and layer of the building I could reach.
The grounds are fenced off and unkept, so the earth has reclaimed much of the area. The buildings are strung with green and have grass on their roofs. The inside halls have deteriorated, and the asbestos-painted walls peel erratically, revealing layers of various materials. Each room houses a different ecosystem. The sunlight spikes through holes in the walls, just barely illuminating the darkest hallways. I felt a way I had not felt ever before when in the space, so intensely that I feel the need to share that, to the best of my ability and in whatever form it may take. Over the years, I experimented with documenting this feeling through an array of mediums, on and off the grounds of Walter Reed. I've created many films on the grounds, which provided much insight. I realized the importance of my intuition and the indescribable connection to this place through my work.
Previously, I had been creating these landscapes of sorts, with the mark-making that I had developed when working in Walter Reed. However, I wanted a stronger relationship with the site that inspired them. As if when I looked at them, I saw the walls that it should be placed on. Though it was when I was taken out of my usual setting and put into a box studio in Manhattan, that I was able to see the disconnect, as I myself was disconnected, removed from my place. I now focus on getting that literal weight and almost violent, powerful presence of Walter Reed across to the viewer without any prior knowledge of myself or my practice. I will incorporate this weight into the works with and mimic the materials true to the site. Heavy builder materials like concrete, wood, plaster, to create a large canvas that already feels like I could have taken it out of the walls of Walter Reed. Layering another separate fixture/canvas, also layered in heavy materials, atop the larger canvas, as I did with the old moldy chalkboards I worked on in the building. These works will culminate in an installation of sorts, rather than just neatly hung on a wall. As of now, they take the shape of foe walls, which are dropcloth layered in plaster. Ideally, these works would function as a temporary installation, for which I would come into any given space, work straight on the walls, and then repair and leave. The fragility of the works is rather important, as the spaces I am drawing from are deteriorating rapidly, with many already fully gone.