Growing up in the sweatshops of the Los Angeles apparel industry with my mentally ill family has become the thread that flows through the story in my work. Elements of an abusive childhood and the materials from the garment manufacturing trade creep into my art as a type of redemption.

I see my work as an argument for reality. Ideas and concepts are a sarcastic documentation of a kind of lucid dreaming. These seem to stem from emotions rather than analytical schemes, and therefore are mostly instinctual. I have a compulsive curiosity for the psychological and risk being vulnerable in my work. I incorporate candid narratives, piecing together bits of paradoxical truths that reveal snippets of trepidation. Art then becomes a methodical, visionary activity in which to distract myself from all the bullshit I've had to encounter.

AWARDS AND HONORS

2008 Print Residency, Self Help Graphics, Los Angeles, CA
2007 Artists' Resource for Completion Grant, The Durfee Foundation, Santa Monica, CA
2005 Artists' Resource for Completion Grant, The Durfee Foundation, Santa Monica, CA
2004 Residency Fellowship, Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT
2003 Foundation Grant, Artists' Fellowship Inc., New York, NY

SOLO EXHIBITS

2008

She Dreamed She Remembered, George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Above the Bias Forces, Tinney Contemporary, Nashville, TN

2007

Koelsch Gallery, Houston, TX
All Done But None, George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
A Girl Apart, Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA

2006

My Identity Lab, Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CA

2005

George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Highways Performance Space and Gallery, Santa Monica, CA

2004

Distance ÷ 3, I-5 Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2003

Highways Performance Space and Gallery, Santa Monica, CA

SELECTED GROUP SHOWS

2008

Summer Salon, George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Listen to Your Heart, MOHS Exhibit, Copenhagen, Denmark
Bookish, Seattle University Center for the Arts, Seattle, WA

2007

Selections from the 7th National Sunnyview Exhibit, Union College, Schenectady, NY
Outside the Box, Greene Contemporary, Sarasota, FL
Dark Objects, Light Matter, Galleri Urbane, Marfa, TX
Material Girls, Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, CA (Catalog)

2006

Perspectives, LA Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
SURVIVING: Kinkade, I-5 Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Self-taught Artists, LA Artcore, Los Angeles, CA (Catalog)
Zimmer Children's Museum, Los Angeles, CA (Catalog)
Configuration, Bentley Projects, Phoenix, AZ

2005

George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
BGH Gallery, Bergamot Station, Santa Monica, CA
Angels Gate Cultural Center, San Pedro, CA
Ontario International Airport, Ontario, CA

2004

Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Incognito, Santa Monica Museum of Art, Santa Monica, CA
Outsiders, Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CA
Highways Gallery and Performance Space, Santa Monica, CA

2003

Gallery 825 at Bergamot Station, Santa Monica, CA
LA Women Artists, Bedlam Art, Los Angeles, CA
Now and Now Again, The Wedge at the Womens Building, LA, CA
Brush, The Office: An Art Space, Huntington Beach, CA

2002

Held Ransom, three. Gallery, San Pedro, CA
words., Angels Gate Cultural Center, San Pedro, CA
Dougherty Art Center, Austin, TX

2001

Bush Barn Art Center, Salem Arts Association, Salem, OR
La Luz De Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2000

Westside Art Gallery, Venice, CA

1999

Early Days of LA Punk, Track 16 Gallery, Santa Monica, CA

1998

Orlando Gallery, Sherman Oaks, CA
New Alchemy Gallery, West Hollywood, CA

REVIEWS AND PUBLICATIONS

2008

THE Magazine, Preview 10/08, Los Angeles, CA
Jewish Journal, Picks and Clicks by Dikla Kadosh and Danielle Berrin, Los Angeles, CA
Flavorpill, Preview 10/7/08, Heather Silva, Los Angeles, CA
The Tennessean, Critics Picks 9/21/08, Artist's Works Transcend Abuse, Nashville, TN
Seattle Times, Bookish, Gayle Clemans, Seattle, WA
Los Angeles Times, Picture Brightens for Self Help Graphics, Agustin Gurza, Los Angeles, CA

2007

Times Union, Review by Tim Kane, Albany, NY
ArtScene Visual Radio, Mat Gleason Seven, Carol Es at George Billis, Los Angeles, CA
Jewish Journal, Calendar Features: 7 Days in Art by Keren Engelberg, Los Angeles, CA
Favorpill LA, #213: Carol Es at George Billis, Shana Nys Dambrot, Los Angeles, CA
Long Beach Press-Telegram, Shirle Gottlieb, LBC, CA
Press-Enterprise, The Fabric of Art, Vanessa Franko, Riverside, CA

2006

RiffRAG, Fall, New York, NY
San Pedro Magazine, "Getty, Getty Good," Joshua Stecker, Long Beach Press-Telegram, CA
Flavorpill LA, #161, "Carol Es: My Identity Lab," Shana Nys Dambrot, Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles Alternative, "Carol Es Alchemizes Childhood," Lucinda M. Knapp, LA, CA
Daily Breeze, "A Pattern of Creativity," Josh Grossberg, Torrance, CA

2005

Umbrella, Vol. 28, #2-3, October, Judith Hoffberg, Santa Monica, CA
1-SELF, catalog essays, Shana Nys Dambrot, Kristina Newhouse, San Pedro, CA
Flavorpill LA, #106, "Hybrids and Mongrels," Shana Nys Dambrot, Los Angeles, CA
Coagula Art Journal, #75, Interview with Mat Gleason, Los Angeles, CA

2004

Flavorpill LA #73, "Distance Divided by 3," Shana Nys Dambrot, Los Angeles, CA
Uprising, Pacifica Radio KPFK, Interview with Sonali Kolhatkar, Los Angeles, CA
Flavorpill LA #57, "Identification," Daniel Stephan MacCannell, Los Angeles, CA
.ISM Magazine, Issue 01, 2 page spread; printed images, Santa Ana, CA

2003

Olam Magazine, Los Angeles, CA
The Sentinel, "Exceptional artwork on display" Megan Shirey, Carlisle, PA
Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Resource Book, Springfield, NJ

2002

Artesian Arts Magazine, Scotland, UK
The Morning Show, Pacifica Radio KPFK, interview with Sonali Kolhatkar, Los Angeles, CA
Playful & Provocative, Nancy Nield, Ph.D., Art History Dept., University of Chicago, IL
Austin American-Statesman, "Emerging Artist Within," Austin, TX

2001

Raw Vision Magazine, Issue #37, New York & Watford, UK
Verge Art Magazine, Los Angeles & Washington, DC

2000

Internet Tonight, featured segment on esart.com, TechTV, San Francisco, CA

1999

Art Venues Magazine, "Target Headed Carol Es," Donna Klaasen, Capistrano Beach, CA

1998

NoHo News, featured artist, North Hollywood, CA

1997

Art Collector Magazine, Vol. 1 #4, Beverly Hills, CA
Brainchild Magazine, Issue #4, Illustrations and prose, Los Angeles, CA

SELECTED COLLECTIONS

Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
Centre Pompidou, Bibliotheque Kandinsky, Paris, France
J. Paul Getty Trust, Research Institute Library, Los Angeles, CA
Fred Giampietro Art, New Haven, CT
The Arthur and Mata Jaffe Collection, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL
Beverly Kaye, Art Brut Collection, Woodbridge, CT
Paul Kirkpatrick Music, London, UK
Juliette Lewis, Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
The Jack Morton Company, Atlanta & NY
Memory Bridge, Chicago, IL
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
The National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC
Otis College of Art & Design, Artists' Books Collection, Los Angeles, CA
The Ann Savage Collection, Los Angeles, CA
UCLA Library, Special Collections, Los Angeles, CA
Zetter Collection, Carlsbad, CA
Gail Zone, Los Angeles, CA