Caroline Gates

Caroline Gates - The Shadow Self

On view at Neighbor, 176 9th Ave NYC, 7/3 - 8/3

Reception July 20, 6 - 8 PM

Artist Talk July 14, 5:30 PM - 8 PM ET

Neighbor is proud to exhibit Caroline Gates’ “The Shadow Self,” a series of paintings that encourages individual self-inquiry. Since the first step to reflection often begins with the question “Who am I?”, Gates’ series is underpinned by the connotations of the word am: a short verb that indicates being, assures us of existence, and encourages us to determine what, why, and who we really are. 

Gates has long been a disciple of Edward Hopper, Edvard Munch, and Edward Vuillard, fascinated by the way these artists’ emotive and symbolistic styles capture the private longings of an individual. For these artists, the exterior world becomes a reflection of inner emotion; in that same way, Gates captures dressed-up women in paired down settings in order to understand the relationship between their hidden emotions and public facades. In her paintings, the exterior and the interior come into contact. 

The young women portrayed in Gates’ paintings were inspired by her musings during Covid, when she began to question how exterior decorations like furniture and clothes are used to distract from the true self. Gates looks beyond the persona and focuses on the intimate. She considers how young women often spend time, effort, and money hiding parts of themselves they dislike to face the public—to the point where they become disconnected from their identities. This idea is in part inspired by Carl Jung’s concept of the Shadow Self: the repressed, unconscious, and unrevealed side of ourselves we often consider embarrassing, societally unacceptable, or even evil, but which must be faced in order to embrace our whole identity. 

“Many of the figures in my paintings,” Gates says, “are seen with a literal ‘Shadow Self’ acting as a secondary character beside the subject. Rather than a mirror, which can be easily distorted into a picture perfect idea of a person, I see the shadow as a more "accurate" representation of a person. Although subject to distortions of its own, the shadow acts more like the "am," reminding us of our being, our very real presence in the world, and where we stand in relation to the light. Each of the solitary women in my paintings are caught in a moment of stillness, a moment of reflection, to see who they really are when they are alone.” 

Caroline Gates is a New York City based painter transplanted from the American South. Working primarily in oil paint and soft pastels, she creates images inspired by the search for herself in a world overwhelmed by diversity of opinion, lifestyle, and opportunity. Gates’s work is often quiet, stripped down to reveal the contemplation of a woman alone. A graduate of the New York Academy of Art, she has shown in galleries including the Six Summit Gallery, the Salmagundi Club, and VillageOne Art. She is excited to be partnering with Neighbor for her first solo show in New York City.

Edited by Sophia Noh