Artist Statement:

The religion I was raised in taught me to deny the reality of the physical, tangible world and everything in it. It didn’t allow me to acknowledge the existence of illness, the human body, or death. It didn’t allow me to make use of medical healthcare services when I was physically or mentally unwell. It didn’t allow me to grieve when I lost. Now that I am free to make my own choices, I take comfort and inspiration in what feel like defiant acts. I am rejoining reality by learning about my own body, taking advantage of medical care, grieving those I’ve lost, studying the natural sciences, and making art about topics that were once taboo to me. Whether it be human anatomy, psychology, biology, geology, or ecology, learning about the natural world helps me grapple with my mortality and appreciate the beautiful impermanence and interconnectedness of everything in this world. I’ve learned that we are a part of nature, dependent on it, and very much subject to its forces. My oil paintings and ceramic, mixed-media sculptures often feature objects from my childhood and nostalgic comfort foods, human bones and anatomical parts, trees and fungi participating in the cycle of life, or abandoned human creations being taken back over by nature. I use these subjects to acknowledge and process what I’ve experienced. They aid me in exploring, and even celebrating, all that I was taught to suppress, deny, or take for granted.

Artist Bio:

Caito Stewart (b.1985) is a multi-disciplinary visual artist who was born and raised in Ossining, NY. After receiving her BFA in Painting from Washington University in St. Louis in 2007, she moved to Tokyo where she lived and worked for nearly ten years. She received her MFA in Sculpture from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY in 2020. She has exhibited all over New York, including at Site:Brooklyn, Below Grand (formerly Super Dutchess Gallery), Womenswork.ArtGallery, On Canal in SoHo, and The View in Old Forge. She is currently serving as the director of One River School of Art and Design in Larchmont, NY and lives nearby in Harrison, NY