Rhymes&Oils

Charlenie (Sharl-e-knee) is a self-taught oil painter from Manchester, United Kingdom. Art has been her solace from the moment she picked up her first pencil and paper. After her brave decision to drop out of her Anthropological Research Masters, Charlenie naturally decided it was of the upmost importance for her to pursue a more creatively fulfilling career path; thus Rhymes&Oils organically becoming her livelihood in her mid-twenties.

Rhymes&Oils creates bespoke, concept-driven oil paintings and sells fine quality products, combining her two greatest inspirations of hip-hop (rhymes) and art (oils) and hip-hop. Her signature style is often characterised by the distinct use of a monochromatic palette and mixed media pieces; utilising A-Zs, torn printed lyrics, or pressed flowers.

Rhymes&Oils’ believes that anyone can paint a pretty picture but it takes a different way of thinking to create new concepts in a world oversaturated with pre-packaged ideas, compounded by copy and pasted notions of culture. Its ethos has always been an intention to create work of greater surface meaning.

Through commissions, Charlenie quickly gained recognition in the United States, painting custom album covers for underground rappers and producers. Her painted album covers can be seen on Apple Music, Spotify, and SoundCloud. Rhymes&Oils aspires to one day make it into The Dean Collection (of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys), as this is where her two loves of music and art paint the perfect harmony.

Testimonials

“I asked Charlenie to do a portrait of Tupac Shakur as a birthday present for my brother-in-law (a huge Tupac fan). We discussed his interests, what colours he’d like (his favourite colour is green) and used some of her previous work for inspiration.

She went above and beyond my initial expectations and presented me with exactly what I wanted!

Charlenie really paid attention to my requests and it shines through. The clippings of his lyrics and poetry, his pose and the colours were just perfect.

I would definitely recommend Charlenie’s work.”

— Craig Smith, British Gas
“Charlenie’s work is incredible. I commissioned her to do a “Do The Right Thing” painting for an album cover. The end result is classic. She was very focussed and definitely open to any ideas I had. I couldn’t have asked for an easier person to work with.”

— Will Madden, New Jersey
“She painted me in all oranges and it was one of the most personal moments I’ve ever felt with a fan. The passion comes through on every canvas.”
— L’Orange, North Carolina