Caleb Freese Bio
Both train tracks and a creek cut through my trailer park in south Texas and at age five I was already split between two paths of adventure. One provided shade and got my feet wet while the other smashed pennies and shook the trailer violently as freight trains passed. Symbolic in contrast, the rise of industry or provision of life, I still straddle these two worlds. The creek has turned into a river, tracks into Brooklyn as I divide my time between the most remote and populated areas of the US.
At the age of eight, life became a fury of transitions; I attended ten different schools in ten years, moving over thirty times in my life and never quite having a home. My surroundings had a glaze of similarity but changed constantly, I became both detached and adept at socializing. Allowing a certain freedom to observe and integrate which translates into my art today.
A love of nature and my experience as an outdoor guide greatly impacted my art. After seven seasons of taking people down dangerous and remote rivers, I approach the act of creation much like I'm about to drop a huge waterfall. Thinking becomes worthless instead intuition, being in the moment, aware and alive and connected with nature takes precedence. I've seen a river exercise its power by claiming life and consistently humbling me. The sound of rushing water reminds me of my insignificance, a loss of control, presence and feeling of being alive. I attempt to approach the act of creation in art in a similar way.
My art is about the history and process urbanization as much as it's current relevance. In 2010 humanity completed a shift, which started over nine thousand years ago: more people now live in cities than rural areas. Distill the urban existence into one theme: it’s all about space. My compositions explore space as the collision of shapes, creation of forms and negative space resulting. Layers build up on one another by obscuring, changing or interacting with past layers. Our cites are no different, each reflecting a consistent balance and conflict of space. The present moment is both a sum of past and a point in time moving into the future. In these works movement, action and energy represent both the conflict of space and change to come.