Painting with Purpose
Art built on the foundation of truth and existence
Words by Sam Lauron Photos by Eric Morales
The driving forces behind Caitlin McCollom’s paintings have always led her to create what she feels and knows to be real.
Growing up as an artistic child, always drawing and creating, Caitlin McCollom knew that art was something she wanted to pursue. “I always thought of myself as an artist, from the time I could talk,” she remembers. Continuing on the artistic path, McCollom majored in painting and minored in art history at Texas State University. While there, she also experimented with performance and video work but always found herself coming back to painting.
Shortly after graduating, McCollom opened an apartment gallery called Red Space before deciding to move to NYC to follow her career. While the move didn’t pan out the way she had hoped, McCollom used it as an opportunity to re-establish herself back in Austin. Her first show upon returning was titled “Blood and White.” Using only red and white acrylic paints, it focused on the fragility of life and the pain she felt during that season. McCollom’s work is largely influenced by spirituality and energy. Drawing inspiration from the idea of the physical realm and the spiritual realm colliding, McCollom began adding blues to her typically red and white work to “talk about what is completely real and totally invisible and that you only know exists from experience,” she explains.
Set against a bright white background (on Yupo, a synthetic paper made of polypropylene), the acrylic paints take form in pops of color that represent a true moment. “Color has always been hugely symbolic for me,” she adds.
McCollom’s striking paintings undoubtedly make an impression on anyone who encounters them; her work has been purchased by Vogue, Kendra Scott, Hilton, the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas, and most recently, Angelo State University. The school is outfitting the entire interior of their new medical school building with thirty of McCollom’s original paintings.
With big exhibitions on the horizon, including her first solo international exhibit, McCollom hopes to continue doing what she’s doing in the years ahead. “My work as an artist feels very much like a vocation. It’s a compulsion,” she grins. “I don’t feel like I could be doing anything else.”
Contact:
Canopy, 916 Springdale Rd. Studio #122
cgmccollom.com
@cgmccollom
