CARRIE GILLEN
"Awake"
Stretched Fabric, Acrylic
38 x 74 Inches, Framed
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Carrie Gillen is a St. Louis based painter and sculptor. She exhibits her artwork nationally, and her pieces can be found in collections worldwide. She is the recipient of the Jose Jimenez Public Art Award and the Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis Artist Support Grant. She is currently a studio member at Intersect STL a non-profit studio, gallery, and educational center supporting the south side neighborhoods of St. Louis.

“This current body of work focuses on materiality, abstraction, and nuanced color relationships. I use fabric to amplify movement and dimensionality in my work. I trap color within the form but allow it to breath and refract light through the pleated surface. The fabric is swirled, gathered and twisted up, but with methodology and control. I exploit the tension between the straight lines of the painted composition and fabric’s inherent movement. The folds and seams of the surface abstract the shapes laid therein. The final works don’t rely on narrative, or easily decipherable imagery, but rather our sense experience.”