Carl Yonder Art

About the Artist

Carl Yonder is a visionary surrealist who lives and works in Maryland. As a military brat, Yonder and his family traveled around the country and eventually the world. With all of the relocating, his parents and his artwork were the two biggest constants in his life. Over the years, his initial love of art developed into a passion, which he continues today. Inspired by sensory deprivation float experiences, Transcendental Meditation and lifelong traveling, Yonder’s work reflects his own journey through the subconscious serving as a conduit explorer discovering ancient cultures, rituals from prehistory and esoteric beliefs. Yonder’s interest in art started at a young age, with support and encouragement from his parents and his high school art teachers, he continued to develop as more of a self-taught artist, always exploring new ideas and building upon them. This drive has led to Yonder’s successful career exhibiting work during the past few years, both in Maryland and beyond. Recently, he won the Curator’s Choice Award in December 2020 for his work at the Brooklyn, New York-based Greenpoint Gallery. He also had exhibitions with the I Like Your Work podcast, the Congruence 2020 summer show, two paintings in the 2019’s Big Bold and Beautiful II show run through Montgomery County, two illustrations featured in 2020’s Delaplaine Pops! Group show, in addition to two solo exhibitions, one at the Best Medicine Rep Theater Company in 2018 and at the Greenpoint Gallery in Brooklyn in 2021.

Artist's Statement

I tend to be a private person, and am naturally less inclined to speak to the specific meaning of my work. I believe doing so may only work against any deeper meaning conveyed to you the viewer. In an effort to not box the work into something that you either ‘get’ or ‘don’t,’ I aim for the work to be expansive rather than finite in its "understanding".  My work is all about storytelling. Rather than conveying a specific story to the viewer, I create work with the goal of inspiring a new story within the viewer. All I can do is capture the images that inspire me and ask the viewer to sit with the work, think about what they are seeing, trust their feelings and become a Storyteller all their own.