The son of Robert “Mac” and Mary McAlister, Charlie McAlister was born on March 4, 1969, in Columbia, South Carolina. Much of Charlie’s youth was spent living and traveling abroad, as his family settled in Greece for several years, then later visits to France with his parents aboard their peniche or on sailboat journeys along the Southeast US coast and throughout the Bahamas. Eventually setting in Mount Pleasant, SC, his father designed a studio fittingly dubbed “The Fire Ant Mound” on the family’s property. Charlie graduated from Wando High School in 1988 and earned a scholarship to the School of the Arts Institute of Chicago, where he attended but never acclimated to the creative confines or the harsh Great Lakes winter winds.

Charlie led a profoundly creative life where he found himself delving into any medium he saw fit: music, sound collage, sculpture, performance art, video, drawing, and painting. In his early visual art, Charlie depicted a world of characters who sprang from the ocean, crawling, flying, and metamorphosizing from nature into human and vice versa. Whenever and wherever the spirit hit him, Charlie channeled inspiration, never allowing his work to become codified into any one style. Audio recordings of found sounds, machinery noise, conversations with his friends and family, as well as snippets from commercials and movies took shape in the form of an abstract synthesized industrial music, almost an extension of his paintings.

Working from The Fire Ant Mound in the early 1990s, Charlie mastered the art of 4-track recording and sound engineering, merging guitars, percussion, poems, and stories with original lyrics that range from the subtle to the absurd. His musical explorations often featured friends and family. Writing letters to fellow like-minded artists from all over the world, exchanging their homemade cassettes, artwork and original written collections through the mail, Charlie eventually founded his own cassette tape label, Flannel Banjo. With more collaborations and tape releases, songs eventually found their way onto college radio stations and even the esteemed John Peel Show on BBC Radio 1. His most significant home recording, and subsequent vinyl release on Catsup Plate Records in 1997, is Mississippi Luau, a concept record that bridges Polynesian culture and the South. Even while Mississippi Luau was an accessible album, Charlie continued to investigate deeper into the realms of abstract sound collage and more adventurous music.

Charlie’s journey into the print world centered around his hilarious Sardine Mag-O-Zine, a homemade photocopy publication that confronted consumerism, specifically within the seafood preparation industry, which became a new form of artistic engagement. Hand-written letters complaining to companies about their products, written from a cast of fictitious characters and often ending with Charlie’s satirical pleas to “Please admit you're wrong.” His literary tastes informed both his writing in Sardine Mag-O-Zine and his songs. Dada inspired plays, absurdist theatre, and playful puppetry became an integral part of Charlie’s presence on the stage. Avant-garde groups like the Situations International, the Fluxus movement, and the visceral spirit of the punk scene of the 1980s all influenced Charlie's aesthetic sensibilities.

Charlie often took his music on the road, sometimes driving long distances for shows or festivals that welcomed his surreal style and biting humor. Charlie performed his poetic pop songs with guitar and often a full band. His live shows were always a special occasion and the band consisted of mostly untrained musically adventurous friends. A horn section became a prominent component in his later works, along with a puppet show featuring Little Susie and Gluton the Donkey among its cast of characters. Playing in Charlie’s band was truly an adventure: he was captaining a wildly built ship into uncharted waters under full sail.

Maintaining a strong work ethic, Charlie always supported himself as a carpenter and lived within his honest means, instilled by his father Mac. His lifelong dedication to art making came about thanks to the early influence taught to him by his mother, Mary McAlister, who passed away less than two months after Charlie. Charlie also possessed a deep reverence for the forms and mysteries of the natural world and the beyond. His time spent in McClellanville and many hours exploring the creeks and marshes behind Cape Romain nurtured this appreciation. When Charlie would gather a basket of oysters or land a sizeable fish, he could often be heard exclaiming “Praise Neptune!”.

Charlie died mysteriously on February 26, 2018, at the age of 48. Forensic experts categorized his manner of death as “undetermined” after he, perhaps, fell from the rafters of the second iteration of the Fire Ant Mound. No one will ever know. What remains known is the profound body of work Charlie left us. This “major retrospective” can only attempt to summarize his creative output. The source of his prolific creativity in making art is as poetically mysterious as his own death. To quote a song Charlie wrote in 2017 called Neptune’s Foam:

“Speak to me with ESP

I have traveled far away

To where there is no internet

Here there is no use for that

Speak to me with ESP

I have turned back into the Earth

My body has lost its natural home

Now it resides in Neptune’s foam

I never died like you think I did,

My spirit lives in Neptune’s foam”

Thank you to all the friends who have generously lent their artworks and efforts to this exhibition, including Kim Alsbrooks, Maria Andrews, Daniel Brantley, Rob Carmichael, Geoffrey Cormier, Celie Dailey, Celie W. Dailey, George Dailey, Oscar Denney, Tobias and Brooke Denney, Angie Dillon, Shannon Donohue, Bill Ferguson, Chris Fischer, Eden Fonvielle, Andrea Franco, Gready and John Rhett Frazier, Chap Fowler, Nancy Gibbes, Rebecca Harrleson, Dana Heikes, Celeste James, Anne and Croft Jennings, Melissa Marinaro, Nancy Marshall, Jack McAlister, Jamie and Leigh McAlister, Mac McAlister, Robert McAlister, Melanie McClellan-Hartnett, Noodle McDoodle, Justin Mears, Parker Meyer, Guy Mead, Will Milner, Danielle Rose Moran, Jack and Chris Nietert, Jeff Poole, John Pundt, Marc Minsker, Greg Plaunt, the Scott family, Timmy Scalise, Johnny Sisson, Greg and Lyn Smith, Shannon Smith, Dolphin Kelley Spach, Tradd Spach, Carrie Spahr, Martha Ann Taylor, Kevin Earl Taylor, CJ Ulm, Townson Wells, Zan Wells, Jane Wishart, Richard and Ellen Wyndham, and others. The archival efforts led by Celie Dailey and Will Milner since 2018 have allowed this exhibition to come to life, with the assistance of the McAlister family. Thank you to the McClellanville Arts Council who gave the space and trust to execute this monumental project.

The archive team wore many hats. Will Milner curated and installed the over 100-piece show, and designed exhibition and promotional material. Celie Dailey assisted in curatorial discussion and installation, acted as registrar, created labels, negotiated loans, and communicated with the public. Andrea Franco assisted as an A/V tech. Robert McAlister built specialty shelves and stands for art, and assisted with art installation. Jack McAlister took the lead on wallpapering the bathroom with show fliers. Jamie McAlister assisted with photo installation. Nancy Marshall printed photos, as well as Dailey and Milner. Merchandise was created by Dana Heikes, Chris Fischer, Justin Rhody, John Pundt, Guy Mead, Dailey, Milner, and others. Many friends provided food and libations including Jamie and Mac McAlister.