Description
‘Can You Stop My Teeth From Breaking’ by Caroline Harrison
Artist: Caroline Harrison
Title: ‘Can You Stop My Teeth From Breaking’
Medium: Ink on Arches Hot Press Watercolor Paper
Dimensions: 10.25″ x 10.25″
Framing: Unframed
Year of Creation: 2019
About the Artwork:
“I find excitement in the confusion that comes from encountering unexpected overlap between beauty and ugliness, anxiety and wonder. For me, there is beauty in our ability to adapt to adversity, in the ways in which our bodies fight to reform and to continue, though sometimes these processes goes horribly awry: the stubbornness of our own flesh to re-knit itself after trauma produces scar tissues rich with subtle textures, whorls, and delicate variations in color. I don’t think I could call debilitating depression, auto-immune disorders, or cancers beautiful in any circumstance—all of these afflictions cause real and serious harm—but the mechanisms underpinning these conditions connect to notions of resilience and defense. And resilience is complex—it must always exist opposite to some form of trauma. I started experimenting with physical gore and body horror when questioning how we might respond to so-called invisible illnesses, including disorders of the mind, if we could physically see their effects. Beautifully rendering things traditionally thought of as repulsive and grotesque is my way of showing respect and reverence for the human capacity for resilience. I want to entice the viewer to engage with a piece despite feeling discomfort at the piece’s subject. The mark-making acts as a gentle invitation to linger, confronting and exploring these areas of discomfort.” – Caroline Harrison
About the Artist:
(Artist Bio)
Caroline Harrison is an artist and illustrator living in New York. Her work has been used by a number of artists across the heavy and underground music scenes, including SunnO))), Pig Destroyer, Kool Keith, Inter Arma, KEN mode, Pyrrhon, and Immortal Bird. Her drive to examine and understand experiences with alienation, anxiety, and horror informs her choices of repulsive or disquieting subjects. She seeks to capture that sense of confusion that comes from unexpected mixtures of beauty and ugliness. Her drawings leverage the medium’s immediacy, its physicality, and its foundational relationship to our introductory experiences with art to create meaningful connections with the viewer.