Artwork
Writing
Contact Info
Charles Moffat (born March 1979 in Wingham, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian artist, writer, art historian and website designer. He is known for both his fantasy books and his controversial paintings.
Early Life
Charles Alexander Moffat was raised by farming parents along with two sisters. His family is rather creative: His mother is a landscape architect/horticulturalist, his older sister is a graphic designer, and his younger sister is a game designer/librarian.
As a child Moffat had recurring nightmares about lions. These dreams would later inspire three lion nightmare paintings, like the one on the right which includes a self-portrait of himself at the age of 7. Incidentally, the town of Teeswater (where Moffat went to primary school) in Ontario has a lion fountain near the town library which Moffat says this particular piece is about. Children would stick their head inside the lion's mouth to drink from the fountain.
During his early years Moffat aspired to be an archeologist, a writer, and even thought about going into the RCMP. His first published story was a fantasy serial that appeared in a local newspaper when he was 12 years old. During his teenage years his love of acrylic painting developed.
Education
Moffat studied painting, sculpture, photography, lithography, drawing, mural painting, installation art and art history at York University and became highly influenced by the photography of Cindy Sherman. During his years at York University he also studied gender issues and feminism. His artwork during this period dealt primarily with issues of gothic culture, sexuality, gender identity and feminism.
Following September 11th 2001 Moffat created his now iconic painting "United States Censorship" which has since appeared in a documentary about American censorship, a hip hop video, and in various books about censorship. He also made a reproduction of Friedrich Overbeck's painting "Italy and Germany" while writing "The Work of Art in the Age of Digital Reproduction", a non-fiction piece about how the digital landscape is altering how we see artwork.
In addition to studying a Specialized Honours Bachelor of Fine Arts, Moffat also studied Korean, Japanese and Mandarin. During his stay at York University Moffat was elected Vice President of C.A.S.A. for two years and was a York Senator for two years.
After graduating Moffat traveled overseas and settled in Jeonju South Korea for a year where he made a photography series about the Korean demilitarized zone. It was during this time (2003-2004) that Moffat became more involved with video art and began "The Fear Americans" series in which he satirizes and pokes fun at the Bush Administration and American fascism.
Returning from South Korea, Charles Moffat studied Chinese, Japanese and Korean at York University before returning to South Korea a second time, this time settling in Seoul near the arts district known as Insadong. In 2005 Moffat returned to Toronto Canada where he began a new series of paintings.
Moffat enjoys and is shocked by his moderate amount of success and fame, as fans of his work frequently ask him to do interviews for school projects and essays about his work, magazines and even video documentaries about his work. He has even attracted a small following of art groupies who copy his work or go out of their way to promote his work.
One of Moffat's fans from Brazil was so obsessed with the painting "Mirage Thinking" she hired a professional bead artist to make a purse out of beads resembling the painting. The same fan also traveled to Toronto, Canada to meet Moffat and admire his works in person.
Moffat's painting style and themes vary wildly. He typically paints portraits in a stylized fashion, becoming rather formulaic about his compositions between the figure in the foreground and the background. He has done works that border on photorealism and abstraction, but the majority of his works are stylized. Moffat's themes include Canadian culture, gothic culture, feminism, health issues, Freudian psychology, war/pacifism, religion/atheism, sexuality and controversial themes.
Charles Moffat also uses photography regularly and enjoys making wood/metal sculptures, woodcarving and video art.
Shows and Exhibitions
Galleries
Media
Non-Fictional Work
Charles Moffat writes regularly for a variety of publications with topics varying from automotives, entertainment, environmental issues, exercise, health, sports and technology.
Moffat has contributed to over 200 different websites and blogs with topics ranging from Art History to Politics. Some of his more noteworthy non-fiction works concern art history and art theory. His piece 'The Work of Art in the Age of Digital Reproduction' is frequently taught in universities.
Art History/Theory
Biographies
In addition to his academic writing Moffat has also contributed to "Archery Focus Magazine" on the topic of archery, a sport he has been practicing since 1989.
Archery
Fictional Work
Charles Moffat's fictional work typically comes in the form of the following subgenres: Heroic Fantasy, Dark Fantasy, Literary Fantasy, and Sword & Sorcery. During the 1990s he was also fond of writing Epic Fantasy. These days he is primarily focused on character based stories instead of tales of large scale wars. Many of Moffat's novels and short stories written after 1999 are set in the fictional kingdom of Korovia. Using the same world repeatedly allows for his stories to relate and interconnect to each other despite being in different subgenres, and even to have recurring characters and places that appear in multiple stories. Eg. The cursed glade in "The Unbreakable Arrow" also appears in "The Demon's Sacrifice", with the former telling the story of how the glade became cursed in the first place.
His Heroic Fantasy novel series "The Adventures of Wrathgar" follows a barbarian archer/tracker who hunts assassins, solves murder mysteries, and performs daring rescues alongside other like-minded heroes. Similarly his short story/novella series "Wulfric the Wanderer" features Sword & Sorcery tales that follows a wandering warrior who is a barbarian, a gladiator, a pirate, and fulfills many roles during his wanderings similar to the Robert E. Howard stories of Conan the Barbarian.
"The Lilith Bloodstone Series" is Dark Fantasy and follows a similar short story/novella format to the Wulfric series, but instead focuses on a necromancer who hunts undead and battles demons. The series is a departure from Moffat's main body of work which is typically about warriors and instead hones in on magic and wizardry. Similarly, Moffat's "Quorum of Kase duology is an AfroFantasy / Urban Fantasy of two books which follows two sisters who are both wizards and forced to battle dragons and evil wizards in order to defend the hidden city of Kase.
Moffat is fond of creating heroes with both minor and major flaws, such that they become an important part of their story arc in each novel or short story. This could be as simple as a character being naive (such as the barbarian Wrathgar), or it could be characters who suffer from prejudice and ignorance. His villains get the same treatment, such as the villain of "The Assassin's Trail" who is bent on revenge or the greedy mercenary captain in "The Blizzard's Daughter" who just wants to do one last job before they retire.
The Adventures of Wrathgar
The Lilith Bloodstone Series
The Quorum of Kase
Wulfric the Wanderer
Stand Alone Short Stories / Novellas / Novels
Out of Print Novels*
* The above novels are no longer available. They are being rewritten into Second Edition versions and will be re-released at a future date. The exception to this is "Rise of the Blade", which was never officially published.
Current Work
Moffat is currently focused on his writing career, writing a series of novels set in the fictional kingdom of KoroviaŠ.
× The Ben Navaee Gallery, Toronto, Canada (October 3rd-4th during Nuit Blanche, 2009)
× The Jeonbuk National Art Hall, Jeonju, South Korea (May 8th to 16th, 2004)
× The Louise Odette Sculpture Centre, Toronto, Ontario (April 1st to 7th, 2003)
× York University Open House, Toronto, Ontario (March 6th, 2003)
× The Goldfarb Art Gallery (York University), Toronto, Ontario (February 3rd to 7th, 2003)
× York University Open House, Toronto, Ontario (March 2000)
× The Walkerton Juried Art Show, Walkerton, Ontario (March 1998)
× The Annual Durham Gallery Art Show, Durham, Ontario (February 1997)
× The Ben Navaee Gallery, 1111 Queen Street East, Toronto, Canada
× The Jeonbuk National Art Hall, Jeonju, South Korea
× The Louise Odette Sculpture Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
× The Goldfarb Art Gallery (York University), Toronto, Ontario, Canada
× The Durham Art Gallery, Durham, Ontario, Canada
× The Lilith Gallery, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
× The Official SoHo Art Gallery, Geocities Website
× The Official Paris Art Gallery, Geocities Website
× "United States Censorship" appeared in the documentary film "FUCK: The Film That Dare Not Speak Its Name", 2006.
× "United States Censorship" appeared as background graffiti in "The Quick & Dirty Guide to Hip Hop" DVD, alongside the image of Barack Obama.
× "The Neo-Gothic Art Manifesto" appeared in the 1st issue of the European Art Magazine, 2006.
× Appeared in a BBC documentary on Cindy Sherman.
× Interviewed by TORO Magazine, "Artist Provocateur", June 2008.
× "Reproduction of the Burney Relief", commissioned by the Discovery Channel and Picture Shack Entertainment for the TV show "The Haunted" in 2010.
× "Incubus in the Night" appeared in a TV pilot about succubi and incubi in 2011.
Writing Career
× Abstract Expressionism
× Abstraction: Perfection & Amateurism
× Ancient Architecture
× Contemporary Architecture
× Earth Art
× Fantasy Art
× French Impressionism
× Pop Art
× Prehistoric Art & Ancient Art
× The Neo-Gothic Art Manifesto
× The Work of Art in the Age of Digital Reproduction
× White Box Gallery: Rethinking Art Galleries in the 21st Century
× Andy Warhol
× Eleanor Bond
× George Ault
× Gustav Klimt
× Lucian Freud
× Pablo Picasso
× Tamara De Lempicka
× "Marketing Strategies for Archery Coaches", Archery Focus Magazine, July 2017.
× "A Lesson in Adaptive Archery", Archery Focus Magazine, July 2018.
× "Teaching Archery Through Narratives", Archery Focus Magazine, November 2018.
× "Rinehart Target Balls (and Alternatives)", Archery Focus Magazine, January 2020.
× "Archery Trick Shooting", Archery Focus Magazine, September 2020.
× The Assassin's Trail - August 2011
× The Blizzard's Daughter - March 2020
× The Coven's Wolves - March 2021
× The Demon's Sacrifice - December 2019
× The Black Rose - November 2013
× On Death's Door - November 2013
× The Astral Plane - November 2013
× The Lilith Bloodstone Omnibus - Omnibus Collection / August 2019
× The Dragontree of Kase - July 2020
× The Dragonslayers of Kase - Due out July 2021
× The Quorum of Kase - 2-in-1 Duology / Due out July 2021
× Portal of Destiny - May 2020
× The Cult of the She-Bear - January 2021
× Shifting Shadows in Iztark - March 2020
× Black Monoliths of Al-Kazar - September 2012
× The Unbreakable Arrow - September 2020
× A Hound Named Hunter - December 2015
× The Sunken Castle - May 2020
× The Adventures of the Bogatyr - May 2020
× Hunting Hitler - Agent Borealis Spy Thriller / Due out May 2021.
× The Girl in the Red Hoodie - Apocalyptic Action-Adventure / Due out September 2021.
× Paladin Assassin - 1995
× Ice War - 1995
× King Culprit - 1996
× The Crimson Companions Trilogy - 1996
× Rise of the Blade - 1998
× The Demon's Pawn - Second Edition to be released in 2021.
