Ray Caesar

Artist's Statement

The best response to all the destruction in this world is to create, use anything and everything, but just create… I love a child's drawing as much as I love a painting by a great master, they both contain a vibrant energy of creative hope.

People think I paint pictures of children… I don't! I paint pictures of the human soul… that alluring image of the hidden part of ourselves… some call them ghosts or spirits but I see them as the image of who we truly are, made manifest with all the objects and bruises that filled the story of each life. Like a wonderful old book you find that captures you with the mystery of the main character – you read the beginning and fall under its spell and become unaware of the real nature of reality because you are absorbed by the story till its end. I figure that's what life is and if you cherished a piece of music or an old jewelry box or favorite chair they become part of your soul just as you leave a part of yourself in those objects when you leave this world… Next time you're in an antique shop, quiet your mind and you will hear all the voices embedded in all of those old things… you will hear them singing to you. Whether on a computer or on a cave wall, the making of images is a form of communication that allows the artist to express their love, their sense of beauty, passion or rage. I am proud of the long tradition I come from of image makers.

– RC

Artist's Bio

Ray Caesar lives in Toronto, Canada, and may be contacted at the Jonathan Levine Gallery in New York, New York, the Richard Goodall Gallery in Manchester, United Kingdom, or through Belinda Chun in Toronto, Canada.

Selected Exhibitions: 2009 – solo exhibition, Richard Goodall Gallery, Manchester, United Kingdom; solo exhibition, Galerie Magda Danysz, Paris, France. 2008 – In the Garden of Moonlight, Jonathan Levine Gallery, New York, New York; In the Land of Retinal Delights: The Juxtapoz Factor, Laguna Art Museum, Laguna, California; The Tales We Tell, Lonsdale Gallery, Toronto, Canada. 2007 – Ipso Facto, Richard Goodall Gallery, Manchester, United Kingdom; Rome is Burning / The New School, Foster Gallery, University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire, Wisconsin.