Carolyn Slebodnik

February - April 2026

Hello, my name is Carolyn Slebodnik, and sometimes to relax, I look at houses on Zillow that would shorten my drive time, but feel slightly out of reach. My process of painting is somewhat similar. I have a dog named Data (DAY-tuh) that I love almost as much as he loves me, but that doesn't mean I love him less, just that he has a lot of love to give. I love my family, friends, books, dreaming, and collecting rocks.  

My paintings are themed around multiplicities of self constrained by time and bound by the edges of the canvas. Even a seemingly smooth surface can be wrought with archaeology of thoughts. I am influenced by the colors in The Simpsons,  which I've watched on DVD almost every night as I fall asleep for the last decade, specifically seasons 1-12. My dreams take on the colors of the show, but their content is determined by recurring symbols and themes from my everyday life, and part of me I don't yet know. 

My process is similar to reading the book Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany. It might take me seven years to get halfway through it, and I often have to restart and reread the same pages multiple times. Then, unexpectedly, I might read 400 pages in three months, only to spend another year trying to read the last 20 pages. Other thinkers and writers I love that influence and inspire my work include Kathy Acker, Ann Petry, Simone de Beauvoir, Toni Morrison, Lou Andreas-Salome, Jorge Borge, Henry Miller, William Burroughs, Clarice Lispector, d.a. levy, and Richard Brautigan.