Biography
Calvin Ross Carl’s work balances the humble realities of American life with the unrealistic ideals sold in design and advertising. His work adopts the optimistic visual language and mechanized mode of creation associated with these worlds. The inhumane aspects of design are counterbalanced with imagery and emotionally charged words acting as concrete poetics. His paintings and objects become ambiguous slogans, provocations, and disillusioned statements about one’s self and the surrounding world.
However, there is always some light in the dark. Closer inspection reveals personalized narratives and levity with the artist’s hand being overtly evident in the process. The final result makes room for comfort and introspection within the dualities of hope and fear, love and loss, and our futures and our pasts. This creates confusion between one’s blind optimism for an ideal future and one’s willingness to succumb to the idea where this may be as good as it gets.
Calvin Ross Carl is an artist, designer and former co-director of Carl & Sloan Contemporary in Portland, OR. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Intermedia in 2008 from Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA). He most recently was included in the Portland 2016 Biennial, curated by Michelle Grabner, Out of Sight 2016: A Survey of Contemporary Art in Seattle, WA, and a survey of Northwest abstract painters at The Marylhurst University Art Gym. Carl has exhibited at LVL3 Gallery (Chicago, IL), Cerritos College (Los Angeles, CA), Ditch Projects (Eugene, OR), Lawndale Art Center (Houston, TX), Platform Gallery (Seattle, WA), NEPO House (Seattle, WA), and Clark College Archer Gallery (Vancouver, WA). He has also exhibited in Portland, OR at Half/Dozen Gallery, Gallery Homeland, HQHQ, New American Art Union, Blackfish Gallery, and Tractor Gallery. Carl is represented by SEASON in Seattle, WA.
However, there is always some light in the dark. Closer inspection reveals personalized narratives and levity with the artist’s hand being overtly evident in the process. The final result makes room for comfort and introspection within the dualities of hope and fear, love and loss, and our futures and our pasts. This creates confusion between one’s blind optimism for an ideal future and one’s willingness to succumb to the idea where this may be as good as it gets.
Calvin Ross Carl is an artist, designer and former co-director of Carl & Sloan Contemporary in Portland, OR. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Intermedia in 2008 from Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA). He most recently was included in the Portland 2016 Biennial, curated by Michelle Grabner, Out of Sight 2016: A Survey of Contemporary Art in Seattle, WA, and a survey of Northwest abstract painters at The Marylhurst University Art Gym. Carl has exhibited at LVL3 Gallery (Chicago, IL), Cerritos College (Los Angeles, CA), Ditch Projects (Eugene, OR), Lawndale Art Center (Houston, TX), Platform Gallery (Seattle, WA), NEPO House (Seattle, WA), and Clark College Archer Gallery (Vancouver, WA). He has also exhibited in Portland, OR at Half/Dozen Gallery, Gallery Homeland, HQHQ, New American Art Union, Blackfish Gallery, and Tractor Gallery. Carl is represented by SEASON in Seattle, WA.
CV
Calvin Ross Carl
b. Spokane, Washington 1985
Lives and works in Portland, OR
Bachelor of Fine Arts in Intermedia, Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland, OR, 2008
Solo & Two-Person Exhibitions
2017
I Am Here Until I Am Not, The Office at Russo Lee Gallery, Portland, OR
The Rose I Leave Behind Me, SEASON, Seattle, WA
2014
A Beggar on Horseback, Ditch Projects, Springfield, OR
All Play & No Work: New Work by Calvin Ross Carl & Matt Jacobs, HQHQ Project Space, Portland, OR (two-person)
2010
Purple Mountain Majesty, Half/Dozen Gallery, Portland, OR (Catalog Available)
2009
Reinvestigating Peter Halley: New Work by Calvin Ross Carl & Derek Franklin, Milepost 5, Portland, OR (two-person)
2008
Split Shift, Tractor Gallery, Portland, OR
Dovetail Deux, New American Art Union, Portland, OR
A Diversion of Industry, Pacific Northwest College of Art: Gallery 214, Portland, OR
2007
Natural Selection: Work by Calvin Ross Carl and Jeremy Le Grand, Pacific Northwest
College of Art: BFA Gallery, Portland, OR (two-person)
Selected Group Exhibitions
2021
Blue Ether, SEASON, Seattle, WA
2020
Born to Be Alive, SEASON, Seattle, WA
2017
Painting Affect, Curated by TILT Export., FAR Bazaar Festival at Cerritos College, Los Angeles, CA
2016
Out of Sight 2016: A Survey of Contemporary Art in the Pacific Northwest, King Street
Station, Seattle, WA
PORTLAND2016 Biennial, The Studio Visits, Curated by Michelle Grabner, Disjecta,
Portland, OR
Dear Jenny, We Are All Find: APRIL Festival & Vignettes Gallery, Vignettes Gallery at Indian Summer, Seattle, WA
and from this distance one might never imagine that it is alive, The Art Gym at Marylhurst University, Marylhurst, OR (Catalog Available)
10th Annual Art Auction Exhibition, Disjecta, Portland, OR
2015
Of Silence, Curated by TILT Export, Outpost Projects, Joshua Tree, CA
Slow Enhancer: Curated by Robert Yoder of SEASON, Platform Gallery, Seattle, WA
2014
New-Onset, Gallery Homeland, Houston, TX
Flatlands, Nisus Gallery, Portland, OR
8th Annual Art Auction Exhibition, Disjecta, Portland, OR
2013
Timeshares: Josh Reames, Calvin Ross Carl and Maria Walker, LVL3, Chicago, IL
Free People: Curated by Victor Maldonado, Gallery Homeland, Portland, OR
Free People: Curated by Victor Maldonado, Hult Center for the Performing Arts:
Jacobs Gallery, Eugene, OR
7th Annual Art Auction Exhibition, Disjecta, Portland, OR
2012
Collider, curated by Jeff Jahn, Portland State University Littman Gallery, Portland, OR
SOUTHERN/PACIFIC, Gallery Homeland, Portland, OR
The Infectious Corruption of Color, Clark College Archer Gallery, Vancouver, WA
Benders, NEPO House, Seattle, WA
6th Annual Art Auction Exhibition, Disjecta, Portland, OR
2011
SOUTHERN/PACIFIC, Lawndale Art Center, Houston, TX
Keep em' Coming, Half/Dozen Gallery, Portland, OR
5th Annual Art Auction Exhibition, Disjecta, Portland, OR
2010
FOG: A Spring Group Show, Half/Dozen Gallery, Portland, OR
Objects of Beauty, Gallery Homeland, Portland, OR
4th Annual Art Auction Exhibition, Disjecta, Portland, OR
2009
Push Up, Appendix Project Space, Portland, OR
SQFT, Blackfish Gallery, Portland, OR
Incompletely, Gallery Homeland, Portland, OR
Store for a Month, Portland, OR
Transfixed, Gallery Homeland, Portland, OR
2008
Holy Sheet, Gallery Homeland, Portland, OR
Curatorial
2015-2016 Co-Director, Carl & Sloan Contemporary, Portland, OR
2009 Incompletely: Work by Ashley Sloan, Calvin Ross Carl, Gary Wiseman, Derek Franklin, Joshua West Smith, and Bailey Winters, Gallery Homeland, Portland, OR
Press
Arnold, Sharon. “Calvin Ross Carl's Post-Internet Confectionary Wisdom.” Two Coats of Paint, 17 Sept. 2017, www.twocoatsofpaint.com/2017/09/calvin-ross-carl.html
Johnson, Barry. “Considering the Art Gym’s Abstractions.” Oregon ArtsWatch. 23 Feb. 2016. http://www.orartswatch.org/considering-the-art-gyms-abstractions/
"Mixed Textures With Calvin Ross Carl." Interview. Urban Outfitters Blog. 2016. http://blog.urbanoutfitters.com/blog/photo_diary_mixed_textures_with_calvin_ross_carl
"An Interview with Carl & Sloan." Interview by Graham W. Bell. An Interview with Carl & Sloan. Noise & Color, 23 Mar. 2015. Web. http://noiseandcolorpdx.com/2015/03/23/an-interview-with-carl-sloan/
"Endless Summer: Prolonged Moments Among SEASON Gallery’s Paintings" by Erin Langner. New American Paintings. 31 Aug. 2015. http://www.newamericanpaintings.com/blog/endless-summer-prolonged-moments-among-season-gallery’s-paintings
Bell, Graham W. "Emerging from the Grid." Oregon ArtsWatch. 09 Dec. 2014. Web. http://www.orartswatch.org/crc-hqhq
“Weekend Picks” by Jeff Jahn. PORT. 14 Mar. 2014 http://www.portlandart.net/archives/2014/03/weekend_picks_7.html
"Timeshares at LVL3" by Stephanie Cristello. New American Paintings. 7 August 2013. http://newamericanpaintings.com/blog/timeshares-lvl3
Foumberg, Jason. "Twelve Great Art Gallery Exhibits in Chicago Right Now." Web log post. Chicago Magazine. 8 Aug. 2013. Web. http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/C-Notes/August-2013/What-to-Do-in-Chicago-Art-Galleries/
"Calvin Ross Carl." Interview by Kylie Gava. ForgetGood. Aug. 2013. Web. http://www.forget-good.com/August-2013-Issue-12
"Collider: Is painting dead or alive?" by Richard Speer. Willamette Week. 12 September 2012. http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-19649-collider.html
Angelini, Michele. “The Rules of Abstraction.” Web log post. Lancia TrendVisions. 4 July 2012. Web. http://www.lanciatrendvisions.com/en/article/the-rules-of-abstraction
Breaux, Adrienne. "Featured Artist: Calvin Ross Carl." Web log post. 2Modern. 24 Feb. 2012. Web. http://blog.2modern.com/2012/02/featured-artist-calvin-ross-carl.html
"Artist of the Week: Calvin Ross Carl". Interview with LVL3 Gallery. Web log post. 31 October 2011. http://lvl3.tumblr.com/post/12158820026/artist-of-the-week-calvin-ross-carl
"Living for the Weekend: Calvin Ross Carl's Purple Mountain Majesty" by Victor Maldonado. UltraPDX. 31 July 2010. http://www.ultrapdx.com/zero/2010/07/31/calvin-ross-carl-half-dozen/
“Tonight: First Thursday” by Matt Stangel. Portland Mercury. 01 July 2010. http://www.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2010/07/01/tonight-first-thursday
Interview on KBOO FM's Art Focus with Eva Lake. 06 July 2010. http://kboo.fm/node/22464
"Review: Incompletely at GalleryHOMELAND" by Lisa Radon. Portland Monthly Magazine. 08 Aug. 2009. http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/arts-and-entertainment/culturephile-portland-arts/articles/art-review-080809
Visiting Artist Lectures and Panel Discussions
2016 Conversations on Painting (with Pat Boas and Michael Lazarus), Marylhurst University Art Gym, Portland, OR
2014 The History of Art is Design Lecture, University of Oregon, Art History Department, Portland, OR
2013 Visiting Artist Lecture, University of Oregon, Digital Arts Department, Portland, OR
2011 Visiting Artist Lecture, Willamette University, Art Department, Salem, OR
2010 Visiting Artist Lecture, Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland, OR
2009 Visiting Artist Lecture, Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland, OR
Public and Private Collections
City of Portland (Regional Arts & Culture Council Visual Chronicle of Portland collection), Portland, OR
Lawrence & Clark Gallery, Chicago, IL