i am king carla.
i am an artist, curator, educator and villain.
Currently, my practice is focused on painting with the goal is to build textures on textures through gestural mark making derived from my handwriting styles. My body of work places an emphasis on the notion of cultural exchanges and the multiple ways in which popular American culture and Black culture intersects with contemporary art practices. This results in abstractions of music lyrics, loud color harmonies and forms inspired by street art. My artistic influences are Oscar Murillo, Cy Twombly and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Basquiat and Twombly’s handwriting on canvas and paper drive how I build my compositions while the political commentaries about Black and Brown popular culture & histories as seen in the works of Basquiat and Murillo influence me to share my personal thoughts through out the works. i wear the upside down crown of villainy until you recognize me as king because heavy is the head that wears the crxwn.
Carla Aaron-Lopez is an artist-educator from Charlotte, NC. After graduating North Carolina Central University in 2006 with a BA in Graphic Design, she moved to Atlanta to attend Savannah College of Art & Design. In 2009, she graduated with a MFA in Photography and in 2012, received a MA in Printmaking. In 2010, she began her teaching career at Fort Valley State University as an adjunct professor and has been a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools arts educator since 2014. She has experience in various creative fields from photojournalism to podcasting to arts exhibitions and continues to exhibit her personal works while teaching.
*headshot by @sancho.smalls