Twenty-five year old Cecilia Caulder has emerged as one the most compelling artists working today. Born with autism, along with a severe language disorder, Cecilia’s limited ability to understand verbal and written words makes it difficult for her to navigate the exterior world. She has limited options when ‘speaking.’ She can either use a VOCA machine, a Voice Output Communication Aid—or she can paint.
In response to her circumstances, Cecilia has developed her own unique visual articulation–playing with form, color, and shape to express herself, and creating works both abstract and hyper realistic, all at once.
At a glance, Caulder can blend into the background. Her parents say she is constantly judged by strangers, often given harsh looks by others. Through her paintings, however, Cecilia (Cece, to her friends) captivates. She demands your attention. She will not be ignored.
Art means everything to Cece–it’s communication, a tool of emotional exchange and expression as well as a personal source of pride and accomplishment. She is the classic perfectionist, working diligently for months on end on a single piece. Everything must be just right, as her art is her voice, her happiness. Cecilia’s unique visual style, combined with her curious and imaginative nature, produces paintings that are as gentle and inspiring as their creator.
Naturally, Cece’s artistic process has become a highly regulated routine, established over the course of her early twenties. She begins with a photograph, dividing and organising the image into bunches of loosely grouped organic pixels. She works with a variety of mediums—acrylic, oil pastels, gouache, Posca pens, and so on, achieving both fluid blends of colour and intricate, meticulously fine-tuned detailing. Equal importance is given to the background, the foreground, the colour and the form. Her work is graphically playful, her structure intensely emotive. Cece’s parents, her constant champions, confirm that their daughter counts Maria Sibylla Merian and David Hockney as personal heroes.
Working professionally, Cece has experienced a whirlwind of attention and activity. In 2017, she was filmed by ITV news during her art exhibition at Treehouse School. Since then, she has been involved in several projects from various organisations such as Action Space and Outside In, spaces that assist creatives from all walks of life and marginalized backgrounds to make art. In 2023, Cece was invited to join Making Space at the Royal Academy, an artist development programme for a select group of learning-disabled and neurodivergent artists. The past few years have been full of growth and opportunity, exhibiting at Prince & Pilgrim Gallery, and having different works auctioned off for select charities.