Carmen Neely ’12 completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting at UNC Charlotte and within five years, she he was giving solo gallery exhibitions in major U.S. cities like New York and Miami. Since then, she has added Chicago, where she currently lives, Paris and Düsseldorf, Germany, to the growing list.
Most recently, she added the installation of one of her paintings in the residence of Vice President Kamala Harris to her list of accomplishments.
In September, Neely joined prominent artists Carrie Mae Weems, Glenn Ligon and Thelma Golden, director of the Studio Museum in Harlem, for a panel discussion the vice president hosted in her home. The event featured a guest list of artists, curators and arts supporters from across country to celebrate Black visual artists. It was covered by The AFRO.
Neely’s work, rooted in real-life events and experiences, is abstract and can incorporate different materials — from paint to plastic to yarn to clay — and found objects, resulting in vibrant colors and richly layered textures. She calls them “narrative abstractions.”
Neely credits the nurturing faculty in the Department of Art & Art History with giving her the foundation she needed to succeed. “The studio program at UNC Charlotte was very open to interdisciplinary exploration when I was there. I was constantly encouraged to explore, take risks and develop my own practice. Feeling this push to explore unfamiliar territory and the freedom to experiment really helped shape my approach to art making.”
Neely is represented by Marianne Ibrahim Gallery in Chicago.
Read more on the College of Arts + Architecture website.