Artist's Statement

Charmaine Caire, illustrator, photographer and pop artist, is a creator of worlds composed of found objects, usurped scenes of multi-media vignettes and toys which often “humorously evoke the affluence and plastic culture of suburbia while addressing a variety of topics from current events.

With these contrived artificial communities, she produces fantastic colored prints pushing the potential of photography past two dimensions. She has been described as a “surreal juxtaposer”.

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Artist's Biography

Charmaine was born in 1950’s Trenton, New Jersey. She was raised in post-World War 2 Levittown and graduated from Tyler School of Art. Fascinated by both the disposability and eternal life of plastic toys in the tableaus she built, Caire created both connection and dissonance. These objects combine to create a very short story or one-scene play, drawing the observer to question their own connections and role in the story.

A Pew finalist, featured in solo shows such as the Woodmere Triennial of Photography, Special Project Gallery (NYC)and Exhibit A, highlighted in the New Yorker Magazine and Camera Arts Magazine, and a fellow of the Pennsylvania Council of the Arts, to name a few of her accomplishments, Charmaine has produced four decades of “stop and think” work.

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Education

BFA, Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA

Awards & Honors

2000

Pew Finalist "Works on Paper"

Leeway Foundation "Window of Opportunity" Award

1998

Art Directors Club of Philadelphia, Gold Award Winner, Illustration

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Selected Exhibitions

2022
30th Anniversary Dumpster Divers, Dupree Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

Deconstructing Bowie, Freedom in Eccentricity, National Liberty Museum, Philadelphia, PA

2021
Citizen's Eye - A Kaleidoscope of Nature, Philly Stewards, Philadelphia, PA

The Neon Museum, Philadelphia, PA

2019
PPAC Members Exhibition, Philadelphia Photo Arts Center (Now TILT), Philadelphia, PA

2018
Found Art of the Dumpster Divers, Dupree Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

2017
25thAnniversary Dumpster Divers Exhibition, Mixed Media, Philadelphia, PA

2015
"Outsider Art", Goggle Works, Reading, PA

2013
Yellow Springs Art Show, Stephen Perloff curated, Chester Springs Studio, Chester Springs, PA

Grand Opening Show, Bazemore Gallery, Manayunk, Philadelphia, PA

2012
Truth or Dare, Nexxus, Philadelphia, PA

Dylan Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

Artificial Worlds, Peng Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

2011
Isiah Agars Magic Garden, Philadelphia, PA

2010
Lighten Up, Riverfront Renaissance Center for the Arts, Millville, NJ

2007
Art in City Hall: Spring Manifestations, City Hall, Philadelphia, PA

2006
Visions of Liberty, US Constitution Center, Philadelphia, PA

Artificial Worlds, Peng Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

Philadelphia International Airport, Terminal F, Philadelphia, PA

Art of the State: Pennsylvania 2006, The State Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, PA

2005
Art of the State: Pennsylvania 2005, The State Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, PA

In Our own Backyard, PA Council of Art at Johnstown: Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art at Altoona; Sharadin Art Gallery, Kutztown University, Kutztown, PA

2004
In Our own Backyard, PA Council of Art at Johnstown, Lancaster Museum of Art, Main Line Art Center, Erie Art Museum

2003
Triennial Photography Exhibition, Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, PA

Not Just Another Reality Show, Art Mobile, Bucks County Community College, Newtown, PA

Mixed Bag, Salon de Amis, Yellow Springs, PA

2001
Noveau Pop, Solo Show, Salon des Amis Gallery, Yellow Springs, PA

2000
Plastic Genome Project, Solo Show, Exhibit A Gallery, New York, NY

Ethical Society of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA

The Animal Show, Salon des Amis Gallery, Yellow Springs, PA

The Nude Show, Salon des Amis Gallery, Yellow Springs, PA

Oh, Baby, Exhibit A, New York, NY

Doomsday: Revelations, Salon des Amis Gallery, Yellow Springs, PA

Sixth Annual Photography Show, Yellow Springs, PA; Juried by Stephen Perloff