Author | Winter Mendelson
Bill Carroll is currently the Director of the Studio Program at the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts. He has had a very vibrant career that includes curating numerous exhibitions as well as directing the Charles Cowles Gallery in Soho, the Elizabeth Harris Gallery in Chelsea, working with the Dia Art Foundation, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Nancy Graves Foundation.
Carroll has dedicated his life to the personal and professional development of the artist and currently teaches a course for MFA students at Pratt titled Art World and Professionalism and has lectured at the New York Foundation for the Arts, New York University, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bard College, School of Visual Arts, and F.I.T. However, something very fascinating is the prolific artistic practice of his own.
Carroll was born in the Bronx and raised on Long Island. After graduating from Pratt in 1973 with a BFA in painting, he decided to move to San Francisco where he reflects that it was “all about being gay.” He was apart of this first diverse group of artists to be proud and open about their sexuality. He created many works during this time and the “wacky drawings” popular in the scene at that time heavily influenced his aesthetic. He also became friends with creative icons such as Danny Nicoletta and Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt.
A turning point for Carroll’s artistic practice was in San Francisco when his work was featured in the back room of Lawson-DeCelle Gallery in conjunction with an exhibition featuring works by the controversial photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. He describes this as his first true experience feeling like “the artist” and was really the first time someone took a significant interest in his work.
Perhaps inspired by the post-painterly desire of the 60s/early 70s to pull away from abstract expressionism, Carroll’s mature body of work represents the city of New York itself. Although he admires the aesthetic of abstract art, he is not inclined to produce works that eliminate the narrative. His process entails obsessively capturing the silhouettes of the New York City skyline at dawn and dusk. This consistent theme comes from his sincere love for the city and the desire to reignite artistic inspiration in the borough of Manhattan. The artist jokingly comments, “enough about Brooklyn.”
He goes on extensively long walks around Manhattan and produces multiple sketches, sometimes hundreds. After deciding on the composition for a larger finished piece, he forms a stencil and uses his favorite mediums of spray paint and/or acrylic on paper and panel to complete the work. The result is an image comprised of bold, flat, and linear shapes with a monochromatic palette of black and white, occasionally exploring the use of red for contrast. The layering of buildings produces a sense of depth, and the wavering outline of windows (which are often not included) evokes a dream-like impression. The viewer is invited to experience the city as a stripped and silent version of itself.
Carroll will be featured in a solo exhibition titled manhattan at the Elizabeth Harris Gallery on Thursday, January 8th, from 6-8pm. The show will be on view until February 14th.
