Draft:Charles Alexander Moffat

Charles Alexander Moffat or Charles Moffat (born 1979 in Wingham, Ontario, Canada) is a controversial Canadian artist, writer and movie director. His artwork has appeared in the film Fuck and an art documentary about feminist artist Cindy Sherman. Moffat also has directed movies and short videos like "The Fear Americans Series", "Nuclear Winter" and "Nightmares in the Morning".

Biography
Charles Moffat studied at Hillcrest Public School in Teeswater, Walkerton District Secondary School in Walkerton, John Diefenbaker Secondary School in Hanover and at York University, in Toronto.

Moffat's acrylic and oil paintings focuses on controversial topics such as abortion, genetic manipulation, sexuality, gothic culture, fetishes, feminism, American politics, censorship, the Korean Demilitarized Zone and atheism.

Moffat is also known for his paintings of female violinists. His painting "United States Censorship" appeared in the documentary Fuck.

Writing
Moffat is a prolific writer and has written four fantasy novels including The Paladin Assassin (1995), Ice War (1996), King Culprit (1997) and Rise of the Blade (1998). The fourth book Rise of the Blade was meant to be published as part of The Harpers Series for the Forgotten Realms fantasy world, but The Harpers Series was canceled.

Moffat has also written on a variety of topics including from art history, mythology and politics including "The Neo-Gothic Art Manifesto ", "The Work of Art in the Age of Digital Reproduction", "The Demonification of Lilith" and "Canadian Unity and Quebec Separation". He translated a Sumerian legend about Lilith into English.

David Annwn Jones in his 2018 book Gothic Effigy: A Guide to Dark Visibilities describes Moffat as "a formative figure of the Neo-Gothic movement" and notes his statement from the 2001 work The Neo-Gothic Art Manifesto as "We are social rebels, misfits, a society within a society", and that his 2003 revised version states: "GOTH IS ABOUT REBELLING AGAINST SOCIAL NORMS, AND DEFYING OLD FASHIONED SEXUALITY & REPRESSIVE GOVERNMENT AND RELIGION". Jones goes on to say about Moffat: "There is no hint of compromise here in those strident capitalisations. Those for whom the mordant outlines of gravestones and otherworldliness of tombs provide an opportunity to express their liberty, create a spectacle, strike a pose or imitate the CD covers of their favourite Goth rock band might argue that such words support their case. Moffat's painting Sexual Blasphemy 1 (2005) shows a rear view of a naked woman dressed only in net stockings and with spiral armlet kneeling before a Celtic monumental cross. It is a deeply sensual, thoughtful and provocative image. The viewer enters into the rich ambiguity of the painting: is the subject defying the Christian symbol with her bodily exposure or honouring an older pagan mystical tradition, or both at once? It does seem a particularly apt image to contemplate in this context." Jones later notes: "Contemporary Gothic often places a new emphasis on nuanced figurative representation. Charles Alexander Moffat's paintings have already been mentioned. His Succubus in Corset (2001), reminiscent of Expressionism and E. L. Kirchner's creations, is a powerful and unnerving visual statement, revealing a leaning, dark-haired young woman with her clawed wings and inescapable, probing gaze seemingly fixed on the observer."

Trivia

 * Moffat is working on a documentary about zombies titled "The Zombie Apocalypse" (2007), which is based on the book The Zombie Survival Guide.
 * Moffat played "Macbeth" in a high school play and was voted most likely to assassinate the Prime Minister of Canada by his graduating class.
 * Moffat lived in Jeonju, South Korea for a year and showed a series of photography in galleries in Seoul about the Korean Demilitarized Zone.
 * Moffat has a fan club in Sao Paolo Brazil.

Internal links

 * Fuck (film)
 * Cindy Sherman
 * The Zombie Survival Guide
 * List of Forgotten Realms novels