Cole Carothers was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1949. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Colorado College 1971 and a Master of Fine Arts degree from American University in 1978. From 1978-81 he was the instructor in Art, Art History, and Theater Design at St. Andrew’s School, Middletown, Delaware. He has also taught painting at the Art Academy of Cincinnati 1981-83 and was Adjunct Associate Professor of Design at the College of DAAP, University of Cincinnati from 1985-92. Between 1998-2004 he served as Program Director for the Baker Hunt Arts and Cultural Center in Covington, KY.
While Carothers works primarily by direct observation using traditional oil painting techniques, he is firmly rooted in the 21st century with his interest in viewers’ perceptions of what is real and what is invented. “Ici, Kasbec,” for example, appears to be the artist’s studio, but it is in fact based on a photograph of Picasso’s Paris studio. Several of Carothers’ paintings of his own studio seem convincingly real despite distortions and fictional oddities.
His paintings have been exhibited in New York City, Boston, Chicago, Atlanta, and throughout the Midwest, including in exhibitions at the Springfield Museum of Art, the Dayton Visual Arts Center, the Miami University Art Museum, and the Southern Ohio Museum. He is a recipient of numerous grants, fellowships and awards including an NEA Arts Midwest Fellowship, two Ohio Arts Council grants, three Summerfair Artists Grants and a Rome Prize Finalist. His paintings are included in the permanent collections of the Cincinnati Art Museum, the Art Museum at the University of Kentucky, the Jacobs Gallery at Georgetown College, Lakeland College, the University of Cincinnati’s George Elliston Reading Room and numerous corporations. From 2007 – 2010, two paintings were placed with the US Department of State Art in Embassies Program at the US ambassador’s residence in Tunis, Tunisia.
Artist’s Statement: Truth + Lies
It's fitting that the postcard image for this exhibition is based on Picasso's studio as photo-graphed by Brassaï. It was taken in early May 1944, Paris had just been liberated from Nazi occupation. Much can be said about truth and lies in that period of history. Also, I recall Picasso’s remark, “We all know that Art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth, at least the truth that is given to us to understand.” I'd completed many paintings of my studio, and I’ve been in many rooms like Picasso’s. For me, there is some truth in this painting and without apologies, some lies.
I like to paint from direct observation, but often the facts mix in my mind along with other sensations like hearing, smell, touch and random thoughts. As I paint from life, shit hap-pens, as they say, and what I thought was getting at the truth or coming from it, gets nudged a bit.
The Truth that I’m painting is simply that I’m painting. It involves what I can see around me, in front of me, and with a touch of grace, what’s inside of me.
Here are some notions I have about truth (and lies).
1. There are many ways to skin the truth and then reconstruct it
2. The more truth there is, the better the lie
3. Truth these days seems more subjective
4. A good storyteller likes to exaggerate
5. Nobody wants to hear the truth when a good lie will suffice
6. If we read, hear or see it in the press, it must be true?
7. Make it bold, colorful, big, and with lots of detail. Another good yarn.
8. If we can believe it, then it must be true.
9. Facts don't lie, or do they?
10. Truth may be stranger than fiction and less familiar.
11. We may have a pack of lies for only one truth.
12. Seeing is believing, does that mean it's true?
13. The facts may not lie, but we may choose to ignore them.
Cole Carothers 2011
