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Carolyn Case creates intricate, richly pigmented paintings and pastel drawings where studio and domestic life merge into one. Impulsive, direct drawings from her home transform into active, colorful abstractions, distilling the artist's daily world. Submerged bits of fringe, wrought iron, writing, and pan handles become clues of the day's events. Employing a call-and-response technique between herself and the artwork, Case sees homelife, comprised of countless domestic routines, as an active, creative world. She honors every element of life's daily grind by maintaining the energy of each streak, scratch, and blur that meets her panel or paper. Spaces are articulated out of a selection of suggestions; a leaf or a palm frond, a bisected jug, a coffee cup stain, or notebook paper page, a composition framed by an abstracted heaping kitchen sink. Case’s layers sometimes recall lace or quilts, and previous works drew from travels to Japan, Iran and India, with references to Andean textiles, miniature painting, and the earnest doodles of teens. Each mark is both a call and a response that collectively builds into a resounding chorus.

Carolyn Case lives and works in Baltimore, MD. She earned her MFA from MICA's Mount Royal School of Art in Baltimore, MD (1997), and her BFA from California State University in Long Beach, CA (1994). Case is in the permanent collection at The Baltimore Museum of Art. She has mounted recent solo exhibitions at Taymour Grahne Projects in London, UK (2022); Reynolds Gallery in Richmond, VA (2021); Asya Geisberg Gallery in New York City, NY (2020); Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, MI (2019); and Lux Art Institute in Encinitas, CA (2019). She has participated in two-person and group exhibitions at Taymour Grahne Projects; La Loma Projects, Los Angeles, CA; Blah Blah Gallery, Phildelphia, PA; Interloc Projects, Rockland, ME, The Silber Gallery at Goucher College in Baltimore, MD; Art in Embassies, at the United States Embassy in Managua, Nicaragua; People & Places at the BWI Airport in Baltimore, MD. Case has participated in residencies at the Lux Art Institute (2019), the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (2022), the School 33 Art Center (2004-2001), the Kanoria Centre for the Arts (2001), and the Vermont Studio Center (2015). Publications such as Artforum, ARTNews, The Baltimore Sun, New American Paintings, and Two Coats of Paint featured her work. She has an upcoming residency at Yaddo in Fall 2024.

Ceramic and pastel by Carolyn Case

Carolyn Case

7 am, 2024

Chalk pastel on pastel card with artist frame, ceramic porcelain and glaze

31h x 40w in
78.74h x 101.60w cm

CC003-cer

Ceramic and pastel by Carolyn Case

Carolyn Case

Elbow Grease, 2024

Chalk pastel on pastel card with artist frame, ceramic stoneware and glaze

27.50h x 32w in
69.85h x 81.28w cm

CC002-cer

Ceramic and pastel by Carolyn Case

Carolyn Case

Night Kitchen, 2024

Chalk pastel on pastel card with artist frame, ceramic stoneware and glaze

17h x 20w in
43.18h x 50.80w cm

CC001-cer