About

Biography

Cara Lynch is an artist based between New York and Nashville. Working across media, she is currently making (mostly) paintings, weathervanes, windchimes, and suncatchers. She is a 2020 graduate of the MFA program at Columbia University and received her BFA from Adelphi University in 2012. Recent presentations include Off the Grid at 5-50 Gallery in Long Island City, Less is a Bore at Blah Blah Gallery in Philadelphia, and Rise at Modfellows Gallery in Nashville. In addition to her studio work, she has created many commissioned public works including permanent installations for NYC MTA Arts and Design and NYC Health and Hospitals. She has created several temporary large-scale installations including projects for Nashville International Airport and NYC Department of Transportation. Her work has been featured in publications including Hyperallergic, Architectural Digest, and the Wall Street Journal.

I work in painting, sculpture, and public art. These disparate parts of my practice are unified by the inclusion of patterns or fragments that come together to form a whole.
My work is influenced by historic craft processes: theorem painting, stained glass, metalsmithing, mosaic, appliqué, and embroidery. These aesthetics are a manifestation of autonomy and a way for me to experience visual pleasure.

Sculptures:
My current sculptural practice began with a question: How can I act outside of myself, and what would I do? My sculptures perform for the viewer. I often combine parts of my body with functional domestic objects. These objects, for me, are aspirational. They contain myths of leisure, comfort, stability, or the American dream. By merging myself with these utilitarian objects, I create uncanny bodies that ask questions about agency, beauty, capitalism, action, and fulfillment.

Paintings:
My paintings are textured, fractured abstractions, based in nature.

I have recently been considering the literary term, “Pathetic Fallacy,” which is used to describe the attribution of human emotion and action to nature. My sculptural work has been interacting with nature as I consider agency and animation; My work in painting explores the landscape as a harbinger, a specific emotional state, and a force we act with and against.

Public Art:
I have been creating large scale public works for over a decade. My public projects incorporate bright colors and patterns. These abstract compositions encompass an entire space, creating a new environment. My recent public works embrace Radical Joy in response to the precarity and anxiety we face every day.

I approach each site as a unique environment. Many of my public works reference a community utilizing a space, or the history of a place. Research is an important part of my practice, and oftentimes, will reveal something significant that becomes the focal point of the work.