"Anna Carll began her career as a graphic designer before transitioning to painting and, in recent years, to mixed media collage and bookmaking. Carll's approach to her collage materials is unusual, as she often creates papers based on photographs she has taken of buildings, power lines, and bridges.

Carll manipulates these images, adding foils, paint and thread, sometimes patinating various materials to achieve the desired textures. At times, her process echoes that of Tibetan thangkas, intricately meditative paintings which are traditionally suspended, inviting the viewer to reflect and contemplate. Similarly, Carll urges us to linger and take in the breadth of her surface materiality."

~Nandini Makrandi

Chief Curator at The Hunter Museum of American Art

THE INTUITIVE SERIES

2026 has seen new work emerge from Carll’s studio in the Intuitive Series where the emphasis is on random placing of collage materials and intuitive expression. There are still aspects of the Urban Series present with images of infrastructure: train trestles, bridge canopies, stair wells, iron railings and utility wires (these will probably always be present)—the difference being that these elements are less prominent and fine art paper patterns are now the core imagery. Also Carll has gone back to entitling each piece independently for a peak into the ideas that emerge from each piece.  

Crossroads (On view at Forma Contemporary Art through September 2026)

Introducing The Intuitive Series

"Much of my work from 2019 through 2025 focused on the Urban Series where I explored all the implications of urban expansion, beginning each piece with a digital sketch. 2026 has seen a shift to an intuitive approach that is based on action collage. Here I am responding to each torn or cut piece that accumulates on the surface then guides me to a resolution. As an abstract image slowly appears, my emotions decide the outcome. Elements of the Urban Series are still present in some of the collage materials — it’s the expression that has evolved.

This new work is a Crossroad into a realm of balance, movement, color and harmony, as well as, a deep dive into my psyche to explore what is now more important to visually express."

 ~Anna Carll

THE URBAN SERIES

Carll’s abstract work is based on the concept of urban erosion and explores the cycle of city life alongside nature. It is the observation of constant urban expansion that creates a push/pull of reconstruction within that natural cycle that moves Carll. Civilizations are built on top of each other creating a rich history of efforts to exist within this construct producing a process that requires constant maintenance to survive.

The Urban Series examines all aspects of this concept through color and balance with a birds-eye view and are built layer-by-layer as an examination of this conflict. Carll often uses discarded paintings and collage material on canvas or paper—re-purposing and creating new life out of past work. A careful study of structure along with attention paid to negative space completes Carll’s creative method. Carll combines painting, collage and mixed media within a multi-disciplined art practice using her own vocabulary to create powerful visuals that embody her unique vision of the world.

ABSTRACT COLLAGES & PAINTINGS

“As I quietly create, I have both decisive moments and an earnest, listening eye. In the midst of this what occurs is chaos, serendipity, intuitive associations, nuance and reduction. Working with abstraction allows me to explore the boundaries between positive and negative space while combining unusual textures and different media. For much of my work, I begin the artistic process in Photoshop creating preliminary sketches derived from parts of previous work where I play with compositions and color—however, I am now focusing on an intuitive approach. Initially, each piece is laid flat while I prepare the substrate, whether it’s canvas or panel, adding an initial layer of watercolor paper to form a loose grid. The working panels then go upright where I add a layer of foundation shapes that begin the base topography on the surface. My first layer of paint goes down next—usually a terracotta color that brings a quiet intensity to the surface and later shows up when the piece is sanded or edited. Various papers that bring subtle and intense color, as well as, gel textures continue to build the topography on the surface further enhancing the interaction of all these materials. Once color and chaos are achieved across the surface, the piece transforms yet again when I begin the reduction process with editing and adding ‘white space.’ Through this method, I gradually build multiple layers that begin to form the foundation of the urban collages, grids, botanicals, and harbors, as well as, the new Intuitive Series. The making of these mixed media pieces is as much a physical experience as an emotional one—a form of action collage.

I am fascinated with the push/pull of creating civilizations and nature taking them back. The study of archeology and anthropology in college was of particular interest—how we constantly need to rebuild or begin a new civilization in a never ending cycle. I embrace and process the nuances of this work and use the outcome as a vehicle to communicate a narrative about humanity in flux with the natural world that exists outside of language.”

~Anna Carll