ARTIST STATEMENT:
With one in four mammals currently faced with the threat of extinction, conservation of nature is an issue that we can no longer afford to ignore.  I believe that using art as a platform I have the ability to reach out to an audience and inspire them to think about the consequences of our personal and global actions and to realize that our own future depends upon the survival of the other life forms that share our planet.  Art requires peoples’ time, as a viewer one must stop and really look and consider what the artist is trying to portray.  I personally feel that animal portraiture has often been disregarded as a genre and has suffered from a lack of seriousness and sentimentality by artists and critics alike.   I hope that my paintings convey a truth about the condition of the animals I depict and raise questions about how we must learn to co-exist, understand and respect the role these animals have to play as individuals and as part of a larger eco-system while at the same time aesthetically pleasing the viewer. 

ABOUT THE WORK:
The drawings and paintings of Caroline Fulton are portraits, animal portraits. These portraits are an attempto confront the term animal used by people to signify the notion of an absolute other: whatever lives on earth, which is not me, as a human.
Her work is a rejection of generality and an exploration and embracing of personality and particularism, extended to the other life forms with which we share our planet.
The paintings depict each subject within different families of beings and evoke the presence of these individuals, which have names, therefore a soul and a story. Human cultural elements are referenced as part of the pictorial habitat, providing a contextual framework for each species she devotes a series to; Elephants woven into a collage of Indian motifs, or Rhinos coloured by the pattern making of Southern Africa.
Living presently in Morocco, Caroline has most recently focused on the ubiquitous Donkeys and Camels. These portraits typically show the subject within an environment of the Berber carpet patterns and intricate plaster and tile work found in Moroccan homes and streets.
While the paintings immediately strike one with their richly decorative aesthetic, the symbolic colouration and traditional ornamentation is deliberately employed to create an atmosphere that expresses and reveals the soulfulness of each Animal subject. This conveys a sense of both their familiarity and exile in a predominantly human world.

Born: Edinburgh, Scotland, 1982
Lives: Essaouira, Morocco - Edinburgh, Scotland

Education:
Fettes College, Edinburgh 1998 – 2000
Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, England, 2000 - 2004, BA Hons Fine Art

Awards:
Fettes College, Art Scholarship and Senior Art Prize
Finalist in The BBC Wildlife Artist of The Year Award 2009

Solo Exhibitions:
April 2009, Dundas Street Gallery, ‘Visions Of Africa’, Edinburgh
November 2008, Colours Gallery, ‘Animal Portraits From Morocco’, Edinburgh
Group Exhibitions:
2009:
High Head Gallery, ‘Animal Spirit’, Carlisle
The Leith Gallery, Edinburgh
The Gallery At 94, ‘Curatus’, London
2008:
The Biscuit Factory, Winter Exhibition, Newcastle
Scottish Art Portfolio, Affordable Art Fair, Battersea, London
Old Fettesian Exhibtion, Fettes College, Edinburgh
Royal Caledonian Schools Trust Exhibition, Hanover Fine Arts, Edinburgh
St Columba's Hospice, Anual Exibition, Edinburgh
Friar Lane Gallery, ‘Magical Mystical Nature’, Nottingham
2007:
Colours Gallery, Christmas Exhibtion, Edinburgh
The Biscuit Factory, Winter Exhibition, Newcastle
Scottish Art Portfolio, Affordable Art Fair, Battersea, London
Scottish Art Portfolio, Dundas Street Gallery, International Festival Exhibition, Edinburgh
St Columba's Hospice, Anual Exibition, Edinburgh
Scottish Art Portfolio, Affordable Art Fair, Bristol
Climate Awareness Exhibtion, Oxford
2006:
Colours Gallery, Christmas Exhibtion, Edinburgh
Scottish Art Portfolio, Edinburgh Art Fair, Edinburgh
The Biscuit Factory, Autum Exhibition, Newcastle
Scottish Art Portfolio, Affordable Art Fair, Battersea, London
Scottish Art Portfolio, Dundas Street Gallery, International Festival Exhibition, Edinburgh
St Columba's Hospice, Anual Exibition, Edinburgh
Art Star, Affordable Art Fair, Bristol
The Biscuit Factory, Spring Exhibition, Newcastle
2005:
St Columba's Hospice, Anual Exibition, Edinburgh
2004:
The Biscuit Factory, Autum Exhibition, Newcastle
The Standing Order, 'Kruger & Umfolozi', Solo Exhibition, Edinburgh
University of Newcastle Degree Show, Newcastle
2001: