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CAROLYN SALAS

Carolyn Salas’ artworks come from a place of abstraction and narrative with a focus on simplification of the human form – as historically seen in ancient Egyptian carvings, or in the works of modernist sculptors such as Constantin Brancusi and Naum Gabo.  Salas’ works are light and airy, yet possess a commanding physical presence.  In their abstraction, Salas’ works suggest a more complicated and contemporary dialogue derived from ancient and art-historical cornerstones; while simultaneously engaging conflicting expectations of womanhood and presenting feminine identity as a balancing act: precarious and full of contrasting possibilities.

Carolyn Salas was born in Hollywood, CA. She earned a BFA in sculpture from the College of Santa Fe and an MFA from Hunter College.  She has attended residencies at the Abrons Art Center A.I.R. Space Program and The NARS Foundation, New York, NY; Blue Mountain Center, Blue Mountain Lake, NY; the Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT;  and the Santa Fe Art Institute, Santa Fe, NM. She has also been a Chashama Studio Space recipient, and an Elizabeth Foundation Studio Program/Space awardee. Selected exhibitions include the Berkshire Museum, Berkshire MA; Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa Barbara; Ever Gold [Projects], San Francisco, CA; Casey Kaplan, Koenig & Clinton, Brookfield Arts, SPRING/BREAK Art Show and Kate Werble Gallery, New York, Mrs., Maspeth, NY; Terrault Contemporary and Towson University, Baltimore, MD; Páramo Gallery, Guadalajara, Mexico; and NADA Special Projects, Miami, FL.  Most recently, Salas was awarded Artist-in-Residence at Stoneleaf Retreat, NY, for summer 2021. The artist’s first solo exhibition with the gallery will be held in May 2021.

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TBT, 2020
Hand-Tufted wool and cotton
73”H x 84”L

Courtesy of Mrs. Gallery

 

“The studio in a sense acts as a dance floor, performing, moving, breaking, falling and getting back up again; the objects, wall pieces and installations capture the imperfections and human attributes of burdens, failures and achievements of our everyday.”

— Carolyn Salas

“My work is very physical; it demands use of my body, helping in a way, pushing and pulling, the material. I then develop this closeness with the material. It becomes about the struggle to figure out how it will work.”

— Carolyn Salas

“Pushing Against the Walls—Tyler Emerson-Dorsch Talks with Jenny Brillhart and Carolyn Salas”, Dimensions Variable, MAY 9, 2013

 
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