153. Caroline Pool - Dare to think 3/3

2026
Oil on canvas
17 x 17 x 3.5 (framed)
Signed on Verso

After working in set design for feature films throughout her twenties, Caroline returned to painting, following an instinctive pull towards portraiture. Predominantly focused on the ageing figure, her work explores memory, vulnerability, endurance, and the stories of people who are often overlooked or forgotten within contemporary culture.

Through direct and psychologically charged portrayals of older subjects, Caroline confronts society’s representation of ageing while celebrating the depth of lived experience carried within the body and face. Her paintings create nuanced allegories that balance confrontation, tenderness, humour, and playfulness, allowing viewers to connect with her subjects’ humanity, physical presence, and vitality.

Influenced by both cinematic composition and observational painting, her work captures moments of emotional tension and intimacy. The figures are rendered with empathy and intensity, inviting sustained looking while challenging cultural assumptions around visibility, beauty, and ageing.

Caroline completed a Foundation Diploma in Art & Design at Central Saint Martins, London (2004), followed by a BA (Hons) in Illustration at the University of Brighton (2007).

Selected exhibitions include the CBPP Annual Exhibition at Brixton Dept Store, London (2025, 2024 & 2022); Art on a Postcard charity auctions in London (2024 & 2022); Sophie’s Secret Postcard charity auction, London (2024); Beermats for Balls with Cahonas Scotland (2024); ING Discerning Eye at Mall Galleries (2022); Extraordinary Portraits at Turner Contemporary, Margate (2022); the Holly Bush Painting Prize at Lauderdale House, London (2022); the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition (2021); the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize (2021 & 2019); IBPC21 at the Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art, Wisconsin (2021); the Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition (2021); the Royal Society of British Artists Annual Exhibition (2017, 2018 & 2021); the New English Art Club (2020); Perceptions with CBPP, London (2020); Threesome at 19Karen Gallery, Queensland, Australia (2019); the RBSA Portrait Prize, Birmingham (2019); exhibitions at the Royal West of England Academy (2017 & 2018); the Society of Women Artists Annual Exhibition (2017 & 2018); the Delusional Art Competition at Jonathan Levine Gallery, New Jersey (2018); Affordable Art Fair Hampstead (2018); Artists & Illustrators Artist of the Year at Mall Galleries (2018); and the Columbia Threadneedle Prize at Mall Galleries (2018).

Awards include the Cass Art Prize at the Holly Bush Painting Prize (2022); finalist positions for the Holly Bush Painting Prize (2021 & 2022); 2nd Prize for the Liquitex Emerging Artist Award at the Delusional Art Competition, Jonathan Levine Gallery, New Jersey (2018); the de Laszlo Foundation Prize at the Royal Society of British Artists (2018); finalist for the Jackson’s Open Painting Prize (2018); finalist for The Artist’s Magazine Annual Art Exhibition (2017); runner-up for the Jackson’s Open Painting Prize (2017); and Highly Commended for the de Laszlo Foundation Prize at the RBA (2017).