Caroline Absher

Fredericks & Freiser is pleased to present a solo exhibition of new paintings by Caroline Absher. In recent years, Absher has become known for her energetic and highly intuitive paintings that shift styles and technique in search of an ecstatic iteration of her subjects and their surroundings. With these new large-scale works, Absher turns her focus to psychological spaces where mind and body merge. There is an interconnection between the inside and outside world. Equal parts abstract formations and lyrical brushwork, these paintings draw on the artist’s time as a solo world traveler, an experience that led her to turn inward and navigate her own emotional terrain.

Back to Oz embraces escapism as a form of exploration. For Absher, these paintings depict her personal version of “Oz”—a world built inside the mind of someone who escapes into daydreams. Inhabited by figures—fairies, frogs, and fauna—this otherworldly realm is tethered to a connection between humanity and nature. Here, a primal force is at work, fostering a desire for self-discovery and a journey into the innate ability to know without knowing, or as Walt Whitman described it “Seeking what is yet unfound”.

Rather than capturing a version of reality, Absher brings the transcendental world to life. With fluidity of color and form, she bridges the gap between external and internal, inferring a collective and infinite ephemerality.

Caroline Absher (b. 1994, Greenville, South Carolina; lives and works in Brooklyn, NY) received a B.F.A. from Pratt Institute in 2016 and has exhibited internationally including Tennis Elbow at the Journal, NY and the Green Family Art Foundation, Dallas, TX. She has served as artist-in-residence at the Macedonia Institute, NY (2022).