About
Caroline Anderson is a Rhode Island and Brooklyn based painter and prinmaker whose work is exhibited and collected nationally and internationally. Exhibitions include the Cleveland and Columbus Museums of Art, Fargo’s Plains Art Museum, Cincinnati’s Arnoff Center for the Arts, and Chicago’s Judy Saslow, ARC, and WomanMade galleries. International projects include TransCultural Exchange’s Tile Project, consisting of 22 permanent public worldwide venues, including UNESCO Paris.
Artist Statement
The concept of hypernormalization provides insight into why, despite our awareness of climate change’s catastrophic realities, we often fail to take meaningful action. The mechanisms of denial, distraction, and the overwhelming complexity of the crisis distort our perception of reality, allowing us to continue our daily lives even as the planet faces escalating environmental challenges. It’s not that we don’t understand the urgency of the situation—we do—but we’re trapped in a narrative that doesn’t fully capture the scale or immediacy of the problem.
The physicality of Anderson’s work, with its tactile, layered immediacy, reflects these contradictions. By using technical and pictorial discrepancies, her paintings convey the tensions that mirror our struggle to live normal lives in a time of profound crisis. The traditional easel painting format draws from the language of home decor, subtly reinforcing the idea: this is how we live now, even as the planet calls for urgent action.
Through her art, Anderson wants people to see and feel: That’s how I feel too. Her goal is to spark individual conversations about the global climate crisis—not just in terms of facts and figures, but in its broader, existential context. On some level, we all know the impending consequences: rising seas, more extreme weather events, regions becoming too hot to sustain human life, and an increase in fires and floods. Each of us must confront the scale of the crisis and act in ways that are within our control.
