Charles Hinman American, b. 1932

Biography
My consuming interest in making these paintings is to establish the real sculptural space of the work in context with an illusory space and show how these spaces interact. I think of my paintings as occupying a 6-dimensional space: the three dimensions of space, one each of time, light, and color.
- Charles Hinman

Charles Hinman (b. 1932) is a New York Minimal painter who pioneered three-dimensional shaped canvas paintings through his innovative use of shadow, light, and shape with complex mathematical formulae. Born and raised in Syracuse, New York, Hinman holds his BFA from Syracuse University and taught at the Arts Student League of New York. In 1965, he joined the growing community of artists on the Bowery and moved into his studio and living space at 231 Bowery in the same building with artists Will Insley, David Diao, James Rosenquist, Tom Wesselmann, Frances Barth, Harvey Quaytman, and Max Gimblett, where Hinman resided for over fifty years.


Hinman's work has been included in era-defining exhibitions alongside many of his Minimalist and Conceptual contemporaries. His art career began with a seminal group exhibition at Sidney Janis Gallery, and thereafter his first solo exhibition at Richard Feigen Gallery in 1964. 


Charles Hinman's artwork is exhibited internationally and collected by major institutions and private collectors across the world. His work is included in the permanent collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Denver Art Museum, the Nagaoka Museum in Japan, and the Tel Aviv Museum in Israel, among others. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and four Pollock-Krasner Foundation grants. His most recent retrospective was in 2019 at the Kreeger Museum, Washington DC. Charles Hinman is exclusively represented by Westwood Gallery NYC.

Artworks
  • Tridimensional artwork of three rectangles connected by chord (orange, blue, red), looking like a fan
    Liberation, 1964
  • Twodimensional painting with a horizontal blue rectangle at the top and horizontal blue rectangle at the button. Two strings of rope come from each side to connect a small yellow square in the center of the canvas.
    Suspension, 1964
  • Tridimensional painting of two flattened parallelepipeds with a red side and a blue side
    Docking in Space, 1970
  • Tridimensional painting of a black and white prism with quadrilateral sides coming to a point
    Meeting Point, 1969
  • Tridimensional painting of a lavender prism with a smaller blue cube to the bottom left, a creme parallelepiped at the bottom center, and a pink triangular prism to the right
    Lavender Rise, 1983
  • Tridimensional painting of interconnected parallelepipeds, (vermillion, beiges, navy blue, sienna, white)
    Gathering Force, 1985
  • Painting of 4 interconnected tridimensional rectangles (beige, vermillion, white, black)
    Runner, 1986
  • Tridimensional painting of interconnected parallelepipeds in shades of gray, black, violet, pink, and red
    Cantilever, 1986
  • Tridimensional, bas relief horizontal painting made of interconnected trapezoid shapes (yellow, gray, blues, black)
    Watkins Glen, 1987
  • Tridimensional painting of interconnected parallelograms and flattened cubes in gray, brown, white, black, and beige
    Fair Harbour, 1989
  • Charles Hinman, Phoenix, 1989
    Phoenix, 1989
  • Charles Hinman, Eurynome, 1993
    Eurynome, 1993
  • Charles Hinman, Leto, 1993
    Leto, 1993
  • Charles Hinman, Metis, 1993
    Metis, 1993
  • Charles Hinman, Themis, 1993
    Themis, 1993
  • Charles Hinman, Paneopeos, 1995
    Paneopeos, 1995
  • Charles Hinman, Forest, 2000
    Forest, 2000
  • Charles Hinman, Babar Brown, 2001
    Babar Brown, 2001
  • Charles Hinman, No Dice, 2002
    No Dice, 2002
  • Charles Hinman, Night and Day, 2003
    Night and Day, 2003
  • Charles Hinman, Sagittarius, 2003
    Sagittarius, 2003
  • Charles Hinman, Lemon Drop, 2006
    Lemon Drop, 2006
  • Charles Hinman, Footprint, 2006
    Footprint, 2006
  • Pearly white tridimensional painting of two interconnected rhomboid prisms with yellow and blue sides
    Reflector, 2008
  • Tridimensional painting of interconnected prisms resembling a cut gem, with red shadow
    Green Interference, 2008
  • Tridimensional painting of two interconnected white rectangular prisms with colored sides (blue, yellow)
    Blue Yellow, 2008
  • Tridimensional painting of 3 interconnected white prisms at varying angles with one face in color: red, purple, blue
    Chromatic Three, 2009
  • Tridimensional painting of a white rhomboid prism with a triangular side
    Leaning Twist, 2010
  • Tridimensional painting of 3 interconnected white flattened cubes. At the left one has a color strip in yellow, at the right, blue.
    Analogous Eclipse, 2010
  • Tridimensional painting of a white prism a yellow side shadow
    Emerald, 2010
  • Tridimensional painting of a yellow, beige & white prism with triangular sides, looking like a cut gem
    Chrysoprase, 2012
  • tridimensional painting on shaped canvas with facets resembling a gem
    Labradorite, 2012
  • Tridimensional painting of a black and dark gray sides rhomboid prism with parallelogram sides
    Jet, 2012
  • Tridimensional painting of a black prism with triangular sides, looking like a cut gem
    Black Diamond, 2012
  • Charles Hinman, Sardonyx, 2013
    Sardonyx, 2013
  • Tridimensional painting of stacked parallelepipeds in black, blue, beige, and white
    Dayo, 2014
  • Tridimensional painting of 4 connected prisms with a triangle tops in black, orange, lavender, and white
    Nightfall, 2014
  • Tridimensional painting of interconnected parallelepipeds in black, red, yellow, and white
    Dusk to Dawn, 2014
  • Tridimensional painting of interconnected parallelepipeds in black, red, orange, and white
    Daylight, 2015
  • Print of two interconnected rectangular prisms, blue and white, on pink background
    Gray on Lavender, 1974
  • Print of two interconnected rectangular prisms, light green and white, on burgundy background
    Green on Burgundy, 1974
  • Print of two interconnected rectangular prisms, pink and white, on beige background
    Lavender on Tan, 1974
  • Print of two interconnected rectangular prisms, yellow and white, on light blue background
    Lemon Yellow on Gray, 1974
  • Print of two interconnected rectangular prisms, pink and white, on orange background
    Pink on Orange, 1974
  • Print of two interconnected rectangular prisms, orange and white, on a light purple background
    Red-Orange on Lavender, 1974
  • Print of two interconnected rectangular prisms, yellow and white, on red background
    Yellow on Red, 1974
  • Print of two interconnected prisms, yellow and white, on blue background
    Tan on Blue Green, 1974
  • Tridimensional color drawing of stacked prisms at varying in angles in pink, blue, green, yellow, orange, and black
    Study for Vibrations, 1983
  • Color tridimensional drawing of two interconnected parallelepipeds with two rectangular prisms, one orange and one green. Behind the parallelepipeds is a prism with two sides, one pink one blue
    Study for Mountaineer, 1981
  • Graphite drawing of a tridimensional object made up of 4 interconnected rectangular prisms
    Study for Pamlico, 1975
  • Graphite drawing of a tridimensional object of two interconnected parallelepipeds
    Study for To and Fro, 1973
  • Gouache and graphite drawing of a tridimensional object made up of two interconnected flattened cubes with orange and lavender sides.
    Study for Castor and Pollux, 1973
  • Gouache and graphite drawing of a tridimensional object of two opposing prisms, one with blue sides and one with yellow sides.
    Study for Hybrid, 1973
  • Gouache painting of a of two quadrilateral shapes with different angles, one blue and one yellow, on graphite paper
    Study for Blue Yellow Prism, 1965
  • Gouache painting of a yellow square and pink triangle sitting on the square’s right edge.
    Study for Yellow Red Prism, 1965
Exhibitions
Press
News