BIOGRAPHY
Caroline Otis Heffron lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. Her oil paintings combine images of women as they navigate imaginary urban spaces that reflect their energetic yet vulnerable potential . Flea markets, museums and street fairs are blended and compressed to make disorientating and magical places filled with archetypal women , gestural statues, and symbolic cultural objects . Heffron has been pursuing her painting and ceramics after graduating with her MFA from School of Visual Arts. Heffron’s paintings have been shown at @paradicepalase, SpringBreak, Studioninedee, Kent State University, Long Island University, and La Mama La Galleria among others.
STATEMENT
My art investigates the energy created by comparing women’s bodies with art history and cultural objects in urban spaces. My interest is in interpreting archetypal personas that represent women like me: a wanderer, collector, and creator. The paintings begin as an imaginary conversation that reflect my dualistic experiences of belonging yet feeling isolated, being vulnerable yet needing to be strong, and remembering to be present but longing for a future of justice. I pose the intertwining figures with forgotten muses and the overabundance of objects. The compressed compositions celebrate contemporary identities of goddesses, food sellers, buskers, and consumers of culture. The lack of spatial depth and saturated colors are combined to highlight invented worlds of time travel and personal introspection of these new muses. My paintings become a theatrical tableau that is formed into a manageable scale and a focused moment for consideration . The artworks celebrate workers, muses, prize holders, drinkers, and art viewers as they walk along beside me in a connected choreography.