Carol Coates
MindsEye III, mixed media on board, 48″ x 72″
MindsEye V, mixed media on canvas, 38″ x 56″
MindsEye VI, mixed media on board, 48″ x 72″
MindsEye IX, mixed acrylic media on canvas, 48″ x 72″
MindsEye XII, acrylics on Belgian linen, 48″ x 72″
MindsEye XV, oil on canvas, 48″ x 72″
MindsEye XVI, mixed acrylic media on canvas, 48″ x 72″
MindsEye XVII, mixed acrylic media on canvas, 40″ x 60″
Artist Statement
All of my work relates to our perception and choice. Our points of view are based on beliefs and assumptions, as well as facts. We all see one another through our personal lenses.
My paintings incorporate concepts of “eyewear” that I made of found metal, which I welded and assembled with cold connections. I “place” the eyewear on unique characters in acrylic, oil, and mixed media paintings, which “ask” viewers to be aware of their responses to them, and to question whether their responses are based on facts or on beliefs and assumptions.
In a world of increasing intolerance, distrust, and injustice, I find the mission of this series to be timely. We need to question our initial assumptions about others and find that which is true in our shared humanity.
About the Artist
Carol Coates was born in Michigan, where her content-driven work found issues of concern. She has a master’s degree in fine art from the University of Michigan.
A lifelong student of drawing, painting, photography, metal fabrication, and ceramics, Carol Coates works in a variety of media, including oil and acrylic paints, photography, digital collage, and mixed media.
In addition to time in academia, Carol Coates has been an artist-in-residence and has studied, exhibited, and received awards abroad. She is collected internationally. Following her receipt of two major Creative Artist Grants from Michigan’s State Arts Council, she created several 7-foot-by-7-foot canvas-and-mesh overlay pieces, and has produced grand format corporate and public fine art-commissioned installations. She also has won many awards for her unique layered mixed-media work, and garnered representation in Santa Fe, New Mexico; Denver, Colorado; Los Angeles, California; and Naples, Florida. She currently maintains her studio in Ft. Myers, Florida.
Over time, Carol Coates has created five major, and ongoing, bodies of work. The series, which explore the themes of humanism and focus on perception, choice, and social justice, are “Contact”, “Markmaking”, “Dissonance”, MindsEye”, and “Beginnings”.
Carol Coates uses surreal, classical, minimal, and abstract imagery to communicate—to engage and evoke an emotional and empathic response from the viewer, and to provide visual food for thought. While it varies in style, her work’s content and aesthetics are constant. It can be poetic and dead-serious or quirky and laced with humor. All of it comes from one heart and one mind.
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