Born in San Diego, California, on December 25, 1943, Carol Lee Bodie grew up in a patriarchal
familly ruled by a very authoritative father, who’s strictness would over-rule
everything in life…
But it wasn’t in her teenager’s personality to follow the rules of a world
that was already not hers to determine. Her sketchbooks from that time prove
it. Born resolutely sensitive, yet revolting at the same time, she was talented
in all of the artistic and creative fields, and would read book after book
with hunger, escaping reality into her dream world.
She always felt comfortable hanging out with artists--most of the time older
than her--with whom she could share her passions, misunderstood by those
closest to her. Carol always hoped to live that life...
However, Destiny would radically change her outlook. As a teenager, she got
pregnant, and the society at the time pushed her aside. Her familly supported
her, but she had to give up a brilliant artistic career in order to manage
life as a single mother.
She then went through the next forty years, dedicated to her family, later
blessed by two other sons. She raised them without any help from their fathers,
who only made brief passages in her life, as they were unable to handle her
independant personality.
In the year 2001, another big turning point occurred. Dramatic. A life as
a modern and active women left her paralized on her right side, due to a
massive stroke. It was a brutal experience, yet, because of her very strong-willed
personality, would eventually turn to her advantage. She didn’t let herself
become discouraged. Instead, she recalled her youth and picked up her paint
brushes. Though born right-handed, due to paralysis she was forced to return
to artistic creation with her left. However, that wasn’t satisfying enough.
Soon she also took ceramic and sculpture classes and, in the meantime learned
to walk and live an independant life again. Day after day she struggled,
and despite physical and financial challenges, continued to attend San Diego’s
college classes in order to learn more and more.
Her imagination was overwhelming. Her sculpture, Ideas, alone proves these.
Carolee--the artist’s name she chooses--was now handling all the techniques
of sculpting, and finally ready to create the artistic world she had been
forced to set aside for so many years... Then came the third turning point:
the meeting with the paintings of a Master, François Fiedler--a genius of
non-figurative painting.
Carolee became fascinated by the depth of Fiedler’s pieces of art, comprised
of numerous layers of tint-washes, which made each piece a new universe to
discover. As she took inspiration from this Master, she began to create a
series of pieces her own way, adding more and more relief by using a flexible
sculpting material. Through this process, It was once..., Mexican Sage, Sonata,
and Two Ways were born, and the use of relief became more and more evident.
She then painted Center of the Universe--composed of a women’s body in an
unusual perspective, pubis and belly in the foreground, exposed in total
abandon, a symbol of women’s creation of life. The word is spread. Symbolism!
But what would most define her personal style was a new piece: Juicy Ripe
Pomegranates. Fruits replacing the breasts... leaking some sugary seeds on
the body and pubis.
The next piece of art, Trilogy, whose relief spills over the frame, is about
a teenager, barely a young women, whose head (the spirit), breasts (the nutritive
milk), and belly (life), are given prominence.
But Carolee isn’t yet satisfied. Her rebel yell, building up in her soul
for so many years, hasn’t come out yet!
Yes, she’s a painter, but also a sculptor, and this new flexible material
fascinates her! Why can't a sculptor create on canvass? The seed is in the
ground, ready to bloom! But it’s a brand new technique, a total absurd conception.
Never mind! Carolee throws a series of two small studies, titled Like a Dream--two
chef-d’œuvres of sensuality and tenderness, comprised of a woman’s body in
a white, low relief over a non figurative background, worked in depth.
Carolee is enthusiastic with the result. She then starts a large canvas,
Zara--named after the model who posed for her. Her naked back in low relief,
a beauty of feminine perfection, with harmonious lines and contours, and
skin like satin, without a blemish--an untouchable Goddess. But, for a women,
it is a prison of purity, locking-up a living soul. The spectator only sees
the symbol of the women (yes! As usual!), without seeing her inner being.
This magnificent piece of work and refinement is the result of eight months
of exploration and apprenticeship to develop this new technique. And Carolee
masters it to perfection.
Now she can express her revolt and the frustrations of life as a woman, for
herself and millions of others--chained, confined by customs, religions,
and the maschismo of societies who reject women to the lowest rank, if not
the limb.
And in her latest series, Women's Prisons, she now brings these ideas together,
utilizing the low relief of faces or bodies, nested in canvasses painted
with subdued colors, suggesting leprous or squalid walls.
It is the scream of an artist in total control of her art, whose maturity
was forged by a life, sometimes challenging, but always independent and brave.
And it is the vision of a woman who faced, with no shame, the world around
her, after so much suffering, and conquered its pain.
Dan F. Kramer
English translation by Laurent Kramer & Sean McMullen
