Charles Pachter creates with an eye for clarity, boldness and whimsy. An artist with a Canadian-Jewish identity, he allows his artistic style to be guided by an essence of chutzpah. He has become widely known for his visually stimulating creations and dynamic Pop Art style of colour and form. Pachter is recognized for his signature emblems, including an exaggerated perspective of the Canadian flag and playful portraits of the Queen on a moose.

Born in Toronto in 1942, Pachter can be termed a “Renaissance Man,” known for his artistic contributions in painting, sculpture and academia. He was educated at the University of Toronto and Sorbonne University in Paris. Pachter launched a solo career internationally across Europe and Asia, and has exhibited his work at major institutions such as the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Royal Ontario Museum and the Bangladesh National Museum in Dhaka. He is the recipient of the Queen’s Golden and Diamond Jubilee medals.

Pachter creates dynamic works in a range of media, attesting that he explores “a panoply of Canadian symbols and their attendant meanings.” The writer Margaret Atwood – a friend and occasional collaborator – defined Pachter as an artist with interests in, and sensitivity to, the exploration of Canadian history. The artist’s body of work demonstrates a cohesion of potent emblems that explore the visual symbolism of historical identities, imbued with affectionate satire. He frequently infuses his work with a sense of humour, employing everything from visual puns to double entendres.

Atwood described Pachter as a man invested in the span of history, “that which is behind, before, and underneath perceived reality.” For Pachter, creation inhabits a perpetual state of becoming, and each of his paintings are an amalgam of his knowledge. Pachter is an artist who is passionate about Canadiana and its authentic representation, and subsequently his work has been recognized as being quintessentially Canadian.