Moving beyond the borders of the canvas, Caroline Kent’s formal investigations expand into sculpture, architecture and installations. Drawing on a personal archive of painted works on paper, Kent’s use of the color black functions doubly. One on hand, it is a conduit for understanding color. On the other hand, it is a site for exploring new forms and geometry. Kents work takes language and transforms it into a site/context for the projection of desire, wonder, and alternate fictions.

CURRICULUM VITAE
Born 1975, Sterling, IL
Lives and works in Chicago, IL

EDUCATION
2008
MFA, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN

1998
BS, Illinois State University, Normal, IL

SELECTED SOLO EXHBITIONS
2025
Art in Embassies Program, Mexico City, Mexico (forthcoming) 

2023
A short play about watching shadows move across the room, Queens Museum, Queens, NY
This space for correspondence, Casey Kaplan Gallery, New York, NY

2022
Space | Shadow | Script, PATRON, Chicago, IL
Caroline Kent: An Improvisation of Form, Figge Art Museum, Davenport, IA
The sounds among us, Art Wall at Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, CA
The Modern Window: Caroline Kent, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY

2021
Chicago Works: Caroline Kent, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL
What the stars can’t tell us, University Galleries, Illinois State University, Normal, IL
Proclamations from the Deep, Casey Kaplan Gallery, New York, NY

2020
A Sudden Appearance of the Sun, Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Victoria/Veronica: The figment between us, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Chicago, IL
Writing Forms, Hawthorn Contemporary, Milwaukee, WI
A Form Walks Toward You In The Dark, TCNJ Art Gallery, The College of New Jersey, Ewing, NJ 

2018
Beyond The Kármán Line, Catherine G. Murphy Gallery, Saint Paul, MN
How Objects Move Through Walls, Company Projects, Minneapolis, MN
Disappearance of the word, Appearance of the world, Union for Contemporary Art, Omaha, NE

2016
Joyful is the Dark, Public Functionary, Minneapolis, MN

2014
When You’re Not Looking, I’m Loving You, Johnson Gallery, Bethel University, St. Paul, MN
The Height of Fiction, Nemeth Art Center, Park Rapids, MN

2013
How I tell it to myself, Elephant, Los Angeles, CA
St. Wilma and the 4th Dimension, Juxtaposition Arts Gallery, Minneapolis, MN

2010
Romanian Palimpsest, Rochester Art Center, Rochester, MN

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024
Ancestry: Afro-Americas [United States and Brazil], Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado, São Paulo, Brazil
The Mask of Prosperity, Gallery 400 at The University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL
Intimate Landscapes, The Orange Advisory, Minneapolis, MN
RETROaction (part two), Hauser & Wirth, Los Angeles, CA
Flow States - LA TRIENAL 2024, El Museo del Barrio, New York, NY
Art at Amtrak Public Art Program, Chicago Union Station, Chicago, IL

2023
Dialogues, PATRON, Chicago, IL

2022
Sensory Poetics: Collecting Abstraction, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
A Picture Gallery of the Soul, Katherine E. Nash Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
The Artist’s Eye, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA), Berkeley, CA
XYZ: Alphabetical Ruptures and Reformations, KinoSaito, Verplanck, NY

2021
LatinXAmerican, The DePaul Art Museum, Chicago, IL
NEW at NOMA: Recent Acquisitions in Contemporary Art, New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA
Recent Acquisitions, Contemporary Galleries,The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Constructed Mysteries, Bethel University Art Galleries, St. Paul, MN; Travels to: Baugh Center for the Visual Arts, Belton, TX; De Pree Gallery, Holland, MI
Sustaining Hues, Augsburg Galleries, Minneapolis, MN

2020
Duro Olowu: Seeing Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago, IL
all this and not ordinary – the difference is spreading, The Marxhausen Gallery of Art at Concordia University, Seward, NE
Constellations, Greenville Center for Creative Arts, Greenville, SC
The Armory Show, Kohn Gallery Booth, New York, NY

2019
Five Ways In: Themes from the Collection, The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
Art Basel Miami Beach, Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
EXPO Chicago, Jenkins Johnson Gallery, New York, NY
Spring Selections, Jenkins Johnson Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Winter Selections, Jenkins Johnson Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2018
Paint School, The Flag Art Foundation, New York, NY
On The Road: Caroline Kent, Basil Kincaid, Esau McGhee, Jenkins Johnson Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
NAVA, Napoleon, Philadelphia, PA
Out of Easy Reach: 2018-1908, The DePaul Art Museum, Chicago, IL 
Viewing Room, Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago, IL
So Close, Far Away, Sector 2337, Chicago, IL
LET’S GO!, Burnet Fine Art & Advisory, Wayzata, MN
Expo Chicago, Jenkins Johnson Gallery, New York, NY
Untitled Miami Beach, Jenkins Johnson Gallery, New York, NY
Up close, Step Back Further, Curated by Tony Lewis, Studio 1469, Washington, D.C.

2017
Midnight Sun, Triumph, Chicago, IL
Dull Magic, UNISEX, Brooklyn, NY
It Will Be More Like Scratching Then Writing, curated by Matt Morris, Goldfinch, Chicago, IL

2016
Axes for Abstraction, Kiehle Art Gallery, Saint Cloud State University, St. Cloud, MN

2015
Imaginary Landscapes, curated by Allison Glenn, Mana Contemporary, Chicago, IL 
What is “American Art”, Minnesota Museum of American Art, St. Paul, MN

2014
Full House (west), David Rich Space, MSP/NYC, St. Paul, MN
How to Make a Hood, Washington Arts Incubator, Chicago, IL 
Objects for Consideration, SOOVAC, Minneapolis, MN
Doubleplusgood, Tuck Under Projects, Minneapolis, MN

2013
Nate Young and Caroline Kent, The Suburban, Oak Park, IL
Works on Paper, Burnett Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
Josephine Lutz Rollins Exhibition, Katherine Nash Gallery, Minneapolis, MN

2012
Go Tell it on the Mountain, California African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA

2011
Place, Mildred I. Washington Art Gallery at SUNY Dutchess Community College, Poughkeepsie, NY

2010
Jerome Fellowship Exhibition, Minneapolis College of Art & Design, Minneapolis, MN 

2009
Greater Minnesota Biennial 10, Soap Factory, Minneapolis, MN

2008
[ ] scapes, M.F.A. Thesis Exhibition, Katherine Nash Gallery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 
Open Door 4, Rosalux Gallery, Minneapolis, MN

2007
Drawing and Paintings, Larsen Gallery, St. Paul, MN

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
2024
Quirk, Chris. “The Eye of the Beholder,” Minnesota Alumni, Summer
Geiser, Frank. “Solemn Promise: A Review of ‘The Mask of Prosperity’ at Gallery 400,” Newcity Art, June
Siegel, Harmon. “Reviews: Caroline Kent at Casey Kaplan,” Artforum, February
Pardini, Jennifer Massoni. “Five Takeaways From Working With an Art Advisor,” Gazette, April

2023
Fratt, Dorothy. “Works”, Radius Books and Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, October
ARTNews Editorial. “13 Artists Poised to Break Out Big in 2023, According to Naomi Beckwith, Marilyn Minter, and Other Art-World Insiders,” ArtNews, January
Fouts, Ally. “Microcosm: A Review of ‘Dialogues’ at Patron Gallery,” New City Art, November
Vartanian, Hrag and Di Liscia, Valentena. “12 Art Shows to See in New York This December,” Hyperallergic, November
Stewart, Sylvia. “Cameron Patricia Downey connects to their past by creating novel art,” The Channels, September
Becker, Morgan. “Singing the Orchid Blues,” Document Journal, September
Kulke, Stephanie. “Artists’ thrilling moments of beauty, discovery — and even comedy,” Northwestern Now, September
ARTNews Editorial. “Top 200 Collectors Anita Blanchard and Marti Nesbitt,” ARTNews, September
Henderson, Jane. “Three St. Louis artists chosen for biennial honors at Contemporary Art Museum,” STL Today, August
Randolph, Mary. “Northwestern Art Review looks toward bigger, more accessible future,” The Daily Northwestern, May

2022
Bacon, Camille. “Space | Shadow | Script: Review,” Ruckus, November
Cassady, Daniel, “With strong showing by Latin American artists and galleries, EXPO Chicago expands the definition of a regional fair,” The Art Newspaper, April

2021
Robert, Archambeau. “ The Art of Not Communicating”, Hyperallergic, August
Bacon, Camille. “Caroline Kent’s Aesthetics of Encryption,” Sixty Inches From Center, October
Hudson, Suzanne. “Caroline Kent”, Artforum, March
Lichtzier, Ruslana. “Chicago Art Oximeter: A Review of LatinXAmerican at the DePaul Art Museum,” New City Art, July
MacKenzie, Duncan, Richard Holland, and Amanda Browder. “Podcast: Episode 759: Caroline Kent,” Bad at Sports, January 
Sutton, Benjamin. “Frieze Week’s Breakout Artists,” Artsy, October

2020
Pelly, Jenn. “An Artist Who Paints in Cryptic Pastel Symbols,” The New York Times Style Magazine, November
“Announcing 2020 Recipients of Painters & Sculptors Grants,” Joan Mitchell Foundation, October
Rockett, Darrell. “Uptown, Garfield Part artists Eliza Myrie and Caroline Kent win $10k from national arts nonprofit Artadia,” The Chicago Tribune, July
“Black in America,” Fresh Art International, October
“Art News in Brief: Kohn Gallery Now Represents Caroline Kent”, Art News, February
Cohen, Alina. “The Ten Best Booths at The Armory Show”, Artsy, March
Cardoza, Kerry. “Breakout Artists 2020: Chicago’s Next Generation of Image Makers”, New City Art, April
Sanders, Colleen. “Art department draws inspiration from quarantine”, The Signal, May
Carrigan, Margaret. “Frieze New York exhibitors bring a domestic touch to online viewing rooms”, The Art Newpaper, May
“Price Check! Here’s What Sold—and for How Much—at the Frieze Art Fair’s Inaugural Online
Viewing Room”, Art News, May

2019
Espeland, Pamela. “‘Five Ways In’ at the Walker”, Minnpost, February
Fernandez, Felipe. “Five reasons to see “Five Ways In: at the Walker”, The Mac Weekly, February
Abare, Sara. “How Can Sound Change the Way We Experience Visual Art?”, Walker Art Center Blog, April
“Chicago’s Floating Museum launches latest public art initiative: Cultural Transit Assembly”, Chicago Defender, August
Selvin, Claire. “Artadia Names Five Finalists for 2019 Chicago Awards”, Artnews, June
Nudd, Tim. “Can Adding Sound to Paintings Change the Way You Feel About Them?”, Muse by Clio, July
Moreira-Brown, Caira. “The Top Five Gems at EXPO Chicago 2019”, FAD Magazine, October
Kinsella, Eileen, and Freeman, Nate. “’People Get Into The Rhythm’: Here’s What VIPs Were Buying During Art Basel Miami Beach’s Leisurely Preview Day”, Artnet, December
Cohen, Alina. “The Artists Everyone Talked about during Art Basel in Miami Beach”, Artsy, December

2018
Smith, Amanda. “Un-naming the gaps”, Disappearance of the Word, Appearance of the World Exhibition Essay, January
Lopez, Mia. “Caroline Kent”, Out of Easy Reach, Exhibition Catalogue Essay, March
Flynn-Taylor, Annalise. “Review: Out of Easy Reach”, Sixty Inches From Center, May
Jameson, Paige. “Black and Brown and Seen All Over: Out of Easy Reach Expands the Limits of Abstraction”, New City Art, May
Rodney, Seph. “An Exhibition that Frustrates our Grasp of Abstraction”, Hyperallergic, August 
Eler, Alicia. “Painting Show at St. Kate’s explores the boundary between Earth and outer space”, StarTribune, September
Watson, Nicole. “Gateways to the where: Investigating new territories in the work of Caroline Kent”, Beyond The Kàrmàn Line Exhibition Essay, September
Fernandez, Felipe. “A tale of two artists: the works of Caroline Kent and Lela Pierce ’08”, The Mac Weekly, October
Lambert, Audra. “On The Road Series Stuns at Jenkins Johnson Gallery”, Antemag, December
Anifowoshe, Kanyinsola. “Whatever You Think I Am, I’m Not – Out of Easy Reach Review”, Sixty Inches From Center, December

2017
Schmid, Christina. “Essay: Is Minneapolis America’s Next Powder Keg for Art?”, Vice, January
Morris, Matt. “It will be more like scratching than writing”, Exhibition Essay, May

2016
Schmidt, Christina. “Close Encounters With the Dark”, Independent Artist Publication, March
King, Kelsey. “Caroline Kent, Joyful is the Dark Review”, INReview, July
Olson, Craig. “Into The Heart of Darkness”, Mn Artists, July

2015
Morris, Matt. “Review: Imaginary Landscapes/Mana Contemporary”, New City Art, April

2014
Umolu, Yesomi. “States of Exception”, Saint Wilma and the Fourth Dimension Exhibition Essay, February

2013
Reagan, Sheila. “Caroline Kent explores transcendence, tesseracts”, Citypages, January

LECTURES AND ARTIST TALKS
2024
Performance Lecture, Queens Museum, Queens, NY (forthcoming)  

2023
Artist Conversation, Anne Applleby in conversation with Caroline Kent, The Society for Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL 
Artist Talk, An Improvisation of Form, the Figge Art Museum, Davenport, IA  
Gale Memorial Lecture, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 
Artist Lecture, Tuesday Night Lecture Series, Boston University School of Visual Art, Boston, MA
Artist Lecture, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany 

2022 
Visiting Artist Lecture, University of Arkansas The School of Art Lecture Series 

2021
Lecture, What the stars can’t tell us, Department of Art, Illinois State University, Normal, IL
Lecture, Voices: Caroline Kent, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL
Visiting Artist Lecture, Studio MFA Remote Artist Talks, Portland State University, Portland, OR
Artist Talk with Jadine Collingwood, Chicago Works: Caroline Kent, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago, IL
Artist Tour, Artadia Foundation’s New York Stakeholders, Artadia Foundation, New York, NY
Lecture, ICA Social Club Auction Artist, Institute of Contemporary Art of San José, San José, CA, Sept. 10
Lecture, Department of Art, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL
Panelist, SIDEBAR: Devin T. Mays, Caroline Kent, Theaster Gates and Zachary Cahill, University of Chicago Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry, Chicago, IL

2020
Visiting Critic, Instructor: Jessica Stockholder, “Senior BFA Project Course,” University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Follow my eyes, Virtual Artist Studio Tour, Makelit and Lit Y Luz Festival, Chicago, IL
Visiting Artist Series, Illinois State University, Normal, IL
Pandemic Lessons: Challenges, Innovations and Re-Imaginings in Art Education, Gallery 400, The University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL

2018
Are We There Yet? with Joyce Lee, Lyz Wendland, Amanda Hamilton, Catherine Prescott and moderated by Betsy Carpenter, Christians in the Visual Arts (CIVA) Conference, Bethel University, St Paul, MN
Creative Practice Artist Panel with Kenneth Steinbach, Margery Amdur, Matthew Bourbon, Jenene Nagy, Minneapolis College of Art & Design, Minneapolis, MNӬ
Visiting Artist Lecture, Catherine G. Murphy Gallery, St. Catherine University, Saint Paul, MN
Out of Easy Reach Symposium with Steffani Jemison and moderated by Allison Glenn, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN
Out of Easy Reach Lecture, DePaul Art Museum, Chicago, IL

2016
Axes for Abstraction Lecture, Saint Cloud State University, St. Cloud, MN

2015
How I Tell It To Myself Visiting Artist Lecturer, Bethel University, St Paul, MN
The Height of Fiction Lecture, Nemeth Art Center, Park Rapids, MN

2012
Sacred Space/Contested Terrain Lecture with Yesomi Umolu, Department of Art, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN

2011
Romanian Palimpsest Lecture, University of Wisconsin-Stout, Menomonie, WI

2010
Romanian Palimpsest Lecture, Rochester Art Center, Rochester, MN

2008
Caroline Kent: Deep calls unto Deep Artist Talk, Displacement Symposium, University of Glasgow, Scotland

2007
Romania through the eyes of a Young American Artist, 4th Romanian Conference, Columbia University, New York, NY

2006
Crafting a Vision for Art, Equity and Civic Engagement Workshop, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA

AWARDS AND RESIDENCIES
2024
Lea K Green Art Talk Series Honoree, Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY

2021
Joyce Alexander Wein Prize

2020
Joan Mitchell Foundation, Painters and Sculptors Grant, New York, NY
Artadia Chicago Award, New York, NY

2018
Paint School Fellowship, Shandaken: Projects, New York, NY
Artist in Residence, Saint Catherine University, Saint Paul, MN

2016
McKnight Fellowship for Visual Arts, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Minneapolis, MN

2015
Pollack-Krasner Foundation Grant, Pollack-Krasner Foundation, New York, NYӬArtist Initiative Grant, Minnesota State, Mankato, MN

2013
Creative City Making Grant, Minneapolis, MN

2011
Artist Initiative Grant, Minnesota State, Mankato, MN

2009
Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship, Jerome Foundation, St. Paul, MN

2007
Josephine Lutz Rollins Endowment, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN

2006
Josephine Lutz Rollins Endowment, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX
DePaul University, Chicago, IL
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Institute of Contemporary Art Miami, Miami, FL
Joyner/Guiffrida Collection
Macalester College, Saint Paul, MN
Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago, IL
New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY 

The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL

The Berkeley Art Museum Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, CA

Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, MN
The Berkeley Art Museum Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA), Berkeley, CA
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN