It's Mostly About Me and Much Less About You

Eclectic mixed media paintings, drawings, and soft sculptures.

"Los Angeles based artist Carol Es thoughtfully meditates on memories of her fragile past and literally mends those reconstituted images together with thread directly on the canvas. Her art practice is a deeply intimate collage of memory as Es incorporates pattern paper, thread, and paint onto a single surface. Her works utter her story of her unusual childhood...

"...The dialogue between the paper form, the paint, and the stitching signal a laborious methodology and speak to Es's ability to transform materials elements of the past into an entirely unpredictable and new present."

- A. Moret, Whitehot Magazine


My work is both humorous and deeply personal. It frequently includes my family members as cartoon characters while sharing candid stories about episodes of my life. I combine master garment patterns of thick, manila papers against abstracted, generously painted backgrounds that often drip in colorful oil paint. My approach is meticulous, often obsessive, and I embroider to create textile details that marry together painting, collage, and fiber work. Underneath the paint, these master garment patterns are partially ripped away to create different textures. Threads hang, as if unfinished and tattered, or as if we are looking at the opposite side of the neater part of the tapestry.

I paint in a quirky style, and my sense of dark humor often shows through. Some people get it, and some people don't, but I am looking to connect with those that either understand or want to. My purpose in painting is to express my inner-most feeling and I hope to share my imagination with others in hopes to connect in some way through the artwork itself. If I can do that, I have made a successful artwork and have done my job.