Cary Hulbert

Cary Hulbert is a New York-based artist, educator, and curator. Hulbert received her MFA from Columbia University and her BFA from Montserrat College of Art. She has taught printmaking and drawing at Columbia University and MassArt.

Select exhibition highlights include: the Bronx Museum (NYC), Fisher Landau Center (NYC), The Jewish Museum (NYC), Ortega y Gasset Projects (NYC), IPCNY (NYC), Museum of Contemporary Art Vojvodina (Novi Sad), Taimiao Art Gallery (Beijing), and the Liu Haisu Art Museum (Shanghai).


Artist Statement

I once heard that beauty is a way in which we encounter goodness in reality. My paintings are a practice of world-building, stemming from daydreams, fantasy, and bouts of escapism. I create beautiful landscapes that depict animals and nature living in a serene, harmonious existence. Flora and fauna germinate within my worlds, intermingling and taking on each other's characteristics, creating fantastical and seemingly off-kilter landscapes.

My works are often dreamy, colorful, and seemingly happy. However, my flower-animal hybrids emerge as unique oddities when you look closer. It is not always noticeable at a glance; the more you look, the more you will find. Common animals in my paintings are dogs, a nod to the once wild, now tamed animals, acting as an essential link between our human world and the environments I've placed them in, moths, and snakes. I consider most of my works "spirit worlds," a beautiful place where physics doesn't apply, and the world can morph in and out of itself.

I work primarily on panels and Mylar, a transparent paper that allows me to use both the front and back, adding depth and intricate layers. I play with opacity by using fluid acrylics and brush strokes and allowing layers of color to appear. This translucent quality of the work contributes to a state of unreality. Part imagined, and part longed for, the universe in these works is a world where anything is possible.


www.caryhulbert.com