Carly Andrew

Artist Statement:

I once heard the Renaissance definition of painting as the representation of a three-dimensional reality on a two-dimensional surface. As I continue to push myself as an aspiring young artist, I realize that art and painting transcend this rigid definition. The beauty of creative expression is that we can exceed our limited reality: It provides the opportunity to deliver meaning in a universal language. There is an endless stream of indescribable ideas I long to satisfy through the channel of my brush. I began to tackle this in my most recent series. There

is something largely existential about the bed. The size of human life. It is where we begin our days. It is where we put them to rest. It is where we are born. It is where we die. It is where we seek the glimpse of our wildest dreams, of our worst nightmares. It is where we, at one moment in time, came to be. It is sensual. It is innately sexual. It is chaste with its stark purity but also intensely lewd. Innocently violent. It is consolingly still while painfully restless. It is where I find myself incredibly and beautifully alone. The place I find myself closest to my lover.

Here I loathe myself and love myself. Veiled nakedness. The imprint of our bodies recorded like feet in the soles of our shoes. I invite you to feel the weight of my existence, the restlessness of my soul, and the intimacy of humanity.