BIO
Carolina Caples was born in Guadalajara, Mexico in 1971. She received her BFA in Fine Art & Painting from the University of Arizona in 1993. She is the recipient of several grants including The Arizona Commission on the Arts Artist Opportunity Grants (FY 2022, 2023, & 2024) as well as the Project Creosote START award from the Arts Foundation for Tucson in southern Arizona (2022). Her work has been featured in the March, 2023 issue of Suboart International Magazine #2. She has exhibited in galleries and public spaces including Untitled Gallery in Tucson, Arizona and Bedford Gallery in Walnut Creek, California. Her work is included in private collections across the United States and Europe and in the corporate collection of United Airlines. Carolina currently lives and works in Tucson, Arizona.
ARTIST STATEMENT
To be seen and deeply understood by another is a basic human desire reflected in my paintings, both portraits and abstracts. Using bold and vibrant colors, often layering shapes and subtracting values, the physical act of pushing paint around takes me on an unplanned, spontaneous journey to create and re-contextualize the lyricism inherent in the vulnerability of our human experience.
While often starting with simple elements, my abstract paintings emanate from a primal place, in turn, creating visual chaos reflective of the tension and turmoil within—a tension awaiting clarity through both psychological and technical artistic problem solving. The tension holds in it a desire for clarity, a relief from the chaos that only arrives when balance has been restored and a new awareness is yielded in my subconscious and conscious processing. The themes that permeate my abstract work are varied, yet rooted in stories of personal growth that demonstrate how pain is a beautiful and necessary part of living life with courage. I explore the complexities of human relationships, the lure of safety and the omniscience and freedom that arises when we listen to our higher knowing. Meditation is a critical part of my process, bringing clarity to the canvas as I allow the shapes and bold, rhythmic colors to guide me with fluid, balanced, rounded lines and psychedelic qualities.
Beginning with either a self-selected or client-select photograph, my portraits show the power and vulnerability of the human soul by reflecting one’s truest, most authentic essence. After projecting or transferring a photograph reference onto the substrate, I add layers of shapes and values before refinement, often integrating conceptual and literal elements from nature and desert cactus to articulate the energy and vibration surrounding the individual in the moment. Most often, my portraits tell the story of a human soul engaged in conscious or subconscious transformation, yearning to shed low vibrational feelings about self-worth, security, and self-love.
While my work encompasses the specificity of portraiture and the freedom of abstract concepts, it is distinct and recognizable. My intention is to attract those who find resonance with pain, transformation and hope contained in each painting—those who are willing to lose themselves, if only momentarily, in order to be found in the vulnerability of seeing their true self through the journey of another.