Enise Carr American, b. 1973

Enise Carr is a contemporary abstract artist who takes a material approach to thinking, painting, and sculpture. Within his praxis, Carr interposes personal experiences to challenge systemic predispositions applied to abstract artists within the African diaspora. Through exploring themes of nature, memory, and history, he has created an elemental visual language of diagrammatic expression. Working in layers, he simplifies imposed formal characteristics to initiate a temporal dialogue between past perceptions and present understanding, introducing viewers to concepts both familiar and unrevealed. This architectural structure prompts viewers to inspect latent prejudices and predispositions as they gradually dissect layers of visual information. While physically the works exist within established dimensions, conceptually they challenge their own edges, breaking continuous lines within borders. At once amalgamated and visceral, Carr’s body of work embodies an ecosystem of gestures that are a cumulative reflection of his experiential methodology.

Enise Carr (b. 1973, New Orleans, LA) received his BFA in Painting from the University of Oklahoma. Before completing a program in Architecture at The Catholic University of America in 2012, he enrolled at Maryland Institute College of Art, where he obtained his MFA in Mixed Media in 1999. Carr has exhibited throughout the United States, most recently serving as the subject of a 2025 solo exhibition, ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE ACCIDENT, at Gallery 42 in Washington, DC. He was also highlighted at Prema Projects Art Space in Oklahoma City, OK, from 2016 to 2020, a collective art space he owned and directed. His works have been exhibited at Christopher Brodigan Gallery in Groton, MA, Waiting Room Gallery in New Orleans, LA, Galerie Myrtis in Baltimore, MD, and Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Skowhegan, ME.

He has led artist talks at institutions including the College Art Association 113th Annual Conference in New York, NY, Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA, and the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, MD. In addition, Carr has completed residencies at the Ballinglen Arts Foundation Residency (2025), the Brandywine Workshop and Archives (2022), and with the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture (1999, 2021). Alongside his studio practice, Carr teaches at the University of the District of Columbia. He currently lives and works in Washington, DC.