After studying film-making in Germany, he returned to Ireland in the Sixties and attended NCAD for a number of years, as well as Limerick School of Art and Graphic Studio in Dublin. He has represented Ireland at many international Biennales throughout his career and his work is included in important private and public collections here and broad.

Charles Harper’s paintings and drawings are characterised by a strong affinity to graphic form and the power of metaphor to engage with ideas. His work, he says, ‘always has a structure and an organisation’.