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Carol Burns. Artist Statement.

I am a Scottish born Artist living in Wiltshire, England, who is best known for her unconventional abstracts.

I am interested in people (Every single individual on this planet is a multifaceted being comprising many different identities with no single one providing the ultimate key to unlocking their character) and I find our internal and external narratives captivating. After all, we dream in narrative, daydream in narrative, remember, anticipate, hope, despair, believe, doubt, plan, revise, criticise, construct, gossip, learn, and love by narrative. It enables us to share our internal world in a meaningful way and helps us make sense of the external world we inhabit. Finding a visual means of examining those narratives, and the abstract ideas contained within them, is endlessly fascinating to me and it's those inner landscapes that I aim to capture within my work.

My paintings are not designed to be representational. I start with an idea or concept which I then explore through the layering of paint, intuitive mark making and collage. My process is a constant balancing act between control, instinct, reacting to the accidental and deliberately adding elements to provide contrast and interest.The end result is a work which is rich with history, colour and pattern all of which combine to capture the essence of the inital idea. Each piece is intentionally left open to interpretation which means that it is only complete when the viewer applies their own experiences and narratives to it.

Bio.

Galleries and Shows -
ING Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, London, 2023
RWA (Royal West of England Academy of Art), 2023

CMAF (Calne Music and Art Fair), 2023
Swindon Open Studios, 2023

White Horse Gallery, 2023.
RCA (Royal Cambrian Academy of Art), 2022 & 2023
Contemporary Art Fair - 2019, 2021, 2022 & 2023
Magnum Wines, 2022
SMAG (Swindon Museum and Art Gallery), 2018 & 2019
Museum Of The Mind, 2016

Brooklyn Art Library, 2015
Hop Inn, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2022 & 2023

Cloud 9 Gallery, 2014 & 2015

Aye Inspired, (21 locations across Scotland), 2014.

New Brewery Arts, 2013 & 2014
British Library, 2012

Intel Offices, 2011 & 2012

RWE Npower Offices, 2009 to 2013

Second Life, 2009
Pandora Gallery, 2008.

Other work -
Degrees of Success, Graphic Novel. 2016 to 2018
Research and Evaluation for Busy Practitioners by Dr Helen Kara. Additional illustration for 2nd Edition. 2017.
Home Truths, Illustration for ‘Life In Harmony’ project, 2016.
Love Creek Productions, New York. 4 illustrations to be used in the filming of 'Subconscious Mind’, 2016

Source Distribution, Michigan. Catalogue Cover, ‘Chairs’, 2016
BROAD Magazine, Chicago. 'Tech Cellfie', 2014
When Women Waken: Literary Journal, West Virginia. 'Home', 2013 and ‘Typewriter’, 2014
Making Memories (Dementia Project) – Brewery Art Centre, Cirencester. 2013
Illustrated Tree of Rendcomb Life - Rendcomb College, 2013

Stormwrack by Graeme K Talboys, 2013

Realand by DJ Kirkby, 2013

Research and Evaluation for Busy Practitioners by Dr Helen Kara, 2012

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