Caroline Kent facts for kids

Caroline Kent is an American artist born in 1975 in Sterling, Illinois. She lives and works in Chicago. Caroline is famous for her large abstract paintings. These artworks explore how we use and understand language.

Her art is inspired by her own life and her Mexican heritage. She creates paintings that show the power and limits of how we communicate. Caroline sees her painting process like a dance. This shows how language, abstract art, and painting are all connected. Her art explores ideas about space, objects, and time. It mixes drawings, paintings, sculptures, and performances.

Early Life and Learning

Caroline Kent grew up in Sterling, Illinois, with her parents and two sisters. Her mother was Mexican, and her father was African American. Their hard work greatly influenced Caroline. She spent her summers working on corn farms. She dreamed of a bigger life outside her small town.

Caroline was very close to her twin sister, Christine. They had a special way of talking to each other. This unique communication has been a big inspiration for Caroline's art.

In 1993, Caroline left Sterling to attend Illinois State University. She went there on a scholarship for track and field. Early on, she was inspired by Russian Constructivist art and foreign films. She loved how visual art could be understood by everyone. Art allowed people to connect without needing to speak the same language.

Caroline earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Illinois State University in 1998.

After graduating in 1998, Caroline joined the Peace Corps. She lived and worked in Transylvania, Romania, for two years. There, she was inspired by the many pastel colors around her. These colors later became important in some of her most famous paintings. After the Peace Corps, Caroline lived in Minneapolis for 15 years.

She later earned her Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Minnesota in 2008.

Career and Art Collections

Caroline Kent has also worked as an assistant professor. She taught Art, Theory, and Practice at Northwestern University.

Her art is displayed in many museums across the United States. Some of these include:

• The Pérez Art Museum Miami, Florida
• The Dallas Museum of Art, Texas
• The Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, California
• The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Illinois
• The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
• The Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois
• The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis

Kent's art is represented by Kohn Gallery in Los Angeles and Patron Gallery in Chicago.

Her Artwork

Caroline Kent's art explores abstract painting. She focuses on the details of language and how we translate things. Her work is deeply influenced by her Mexican heritage. It also comes from her personal experiences with language, especially with her twin sister. These cultural and personal ideas come together in her art. They show new ways of communicating. Her art explores both the strengths and limits of language.

Her abstract paintings show how visual language can be understood in many ways. This includes both flat, two-dimensional paintings and performances that happen over time.

Caroline's artworks often mix shapes, colors, and patterns. They remind people of the geometric art of Hilma Af Klint. They also bring to mind the dreamy abstract works of Alma Thomas. Her art also captures the movement of language ideas. She often uses a black background in her paintings. This black space is like an empty place or a "void." It gives a neutral spot for language to exist.

Kent's paintings have changed over time. They show her journey to understand the language of painting in new ways. They move from flat pictures to three-dimensional art, and then to performances. Her paintings often feel like sketches. She lets improvisation and trying new things guide her process. Caroline says she sees her paintings as formulas or "cosmic equations." They invite people to understand them in new ways.

Victoria/Veronica: The figment between us

Caroline Kent's most famous series is called Victoria/Veronica: The figment between us. This series uses her own experience as a twin. It creates a story about imaginary twins in the art show. The series is named after her mother's first two names. It talks about communication and "telepathic correspondence" between fictional sisters. The exhibit explores how unspoken language can work between siblings.

Eight of these large abstract paintings were shown in her exhibit A Sudden Appearance of the Sun. This show was at Kohn Gallery. In these works, Caroline uses shapes, colors, and patterns to communicate. The exhibit asks how language shapes our world and society. It also encourages visitors to engage with the invented language of abstract art. This art often doesn't have one easy meaning.

The large black backgrounds in this series are meant to feel like "cosmic unknowns." They are a metaphor for "undefined, unlocatable spaces." The pastel shapes, however, represent things that were once hidden in darkness but are now lit up. This series is influenced by the Swedish artist Hilma af Klint.

Earlier Works

Caroline Kent's earlier works are known as her "typewriter works." These smaller pieces, done on paper, also deal with abstract language. She would feed paper through an old typewriter. Then, she would paint abstract forms over the text. These pieces make the viewer try to understand the connection between the words and the painted shapes. Here, filling in missing information is like human communication and connection.

Caroline also has a special way of creating her abstract art. She lets trying new things and improvisation guide her painting process. She trusts her intuition. Caroline makes practice versions of her paintings. She cuts paper into abstract shapes and moves them around. Then, she paints the final images on canvas. This method is similar to how the famous artist Matisse painted.

Influences

Caroline Kent gets ideas for her art from her Mexican heritage. The "bold spontaneity" and strong "structural dynamics" of Mexican artists like Pedro Coronel and Luis Barragán have influenced her. They inspire her large, colorful, and textured works. Her visit to Casa Luis Barragan in Mexico City was very important for her series Victoria/Veronica: The figment between us.

By exploring her Mexican heritage in her art, Caroline has joined a conversation about abstract art. This conversation has historically not included many artists of color. Mexican artists often emphasize connecting with nature. This has also influenced the pastel colors and natural shapes in Caroline's abstract works.

Personal Life

In 2017, Caroline Kent moved to the West Side of Chicago. She currently lives and works there as an artist and a mother of three children.

Solo Exhibitions

Some of her solo art shows include:

• Sensory Poetics: Collecting Abstraction, The Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, NY, 2022
• Victoria/Veronica: Making Rooms, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL 2021
• What the stars can't tell us, University Galleries, Illinois State University, Normal, IL, 2021
• A Sudden Appearance of the Sun, Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, 2020
• Writing Forms, Hawthorne Contemporary, Milwaukee, WI, 2020

Awards and Residencies

Caroline Kent has received many awards and residencies, which are special programs for artists. Some of these include:

• 2020: Joan Mitchell Foundation, Painters and Sculptors Grant, New York, NY
• 2020: Artadia Chicago Award, New York, NY
• 2018: Paint School Fellowship, Shandaken: Projects, New York, NY
• 2018: Artist in Residence, Saint Catherine University, Saint Paul, MN
• 2016: McKnight Fellowship for Visual Arts, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Minneapolis, MN
• 2015: Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, Pollock-Krasner Foundation, New York, NY
• 2015: Artist Initiative Grant, Minnesota State, Mankato, MN
• 2013: Creative City Making Grant, Minneapolis, MN
• 2011: Artist Initiative Grant, Minnesota State, Mankato, MN
• 2009: Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship, Jerome Foundation, St. Paul, MN
• 2007: Josephine Lutz Rollins Endowment, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
• 2006: Josephine Lutz Rollins Endowment, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN