Carmen Neely (b. 1987, Charlotte, NC) is an abstract expressionist painter, who creates collages that are visual translations of memories into gestures. Neely collects memories, objects and phases, and incorporates them in her work. Her recently expanded practice utilizes three distinct languages to convey overlapping sentiments: texts from journaling, reading text and listening to audio. Her collages repurpose gestures from her paintings through new materials. They are symbolic interpretations of her familiar language and experiences, mediated and fragmented through the internet and technology. Neely’s paintings are in the tradition of American painting and are reminiscent of art historical predecessors from Arshile Gorky, Cy Twombly to Jean-Michel Basquiat.