Our June PC Acquire talent is a former Dallasite, Houston-based artist Caroline Sharpless. During her formative years, she studied in the 1970s at the Corcoran School of Art — where man-of-stripes painter Gene Davis was her teacher. Now that her family has grown, this visualist has returned to the art world full-time. She most recently honed her skills at the Glassell School of Art, wining a prestigious Ary Stillman Scholarship in 2011; come fall, she segues from the Glassell to the art department of the University of Houston to start her MFA program with a concentration in painting. We spied Sharpless amid a pool of artists vying for inclusion in the Visual Arts Alliance 29th Juried Open Exhibition. What caught our eye on the VAA press disc? Popping out from those hundreds of entry images were three quietly potent Sharpless oil on canvases — paintings of hushed interiors that adroitly balance abstraction and representation. Enthralled by modernism, this lady of contemplative domesticity finds her subjects in a prosaic source: Realtor ads in newspapers and magazines (including PaperCity, natch). “The sanctity of place plays heavily in my work,” she says. “In my paintings, I build a space in cinematic fashion ... Leaving deserted stages without much narrative or other apparent meaning, I attempt to reduce all activity to the act of observation.” Imagine Edward Hopper commissioned to paint Philip Johnson’s Glass House, and you get close to Sharpless. The exclusive portfolio of 10 is priced from $1,450 per painting. Inquiries Seth Vaughan, seth@papercitymag.com.
IMAGES:
Caroline Sharpless’ Stripes, 2010. Photo by Rick Wells. 30x30. $1,450.
Caroline Sharpless’ Kitchen #7, 2011. Photo by Rick Wells. 30x40. $1,450.
Caroline Sharpless’ Closets, 2011. 30x40. $1,450.
Caroline Sharpless’ Gray Wall, 2010. 40x30. $1,450.
Caroline Sharpless’ Kindergarten, 2011. 30x40. $1,450.
Caroline Sharpless’ Kitchen #6, 2011. 71x48. $2,450.
Caroline Sharpless’ Kitchen #9, 2012. 42x52. $1,800.
Caroline Sharpless’ Lobby, 2012. 60x90. $2,900.
Caroline Sharpless’ Louvers, 2010. 59x42. $1,950.
Caroline Sharpless’ Shower, 2012. 36x50. $1,800.