Karrington Gardner
Discipline: Painting, Photography, Collage
Website: https://www.803artistry.com/
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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/803_artistry/
Publications:
Give Me Space - Thesis
Bio
Karrington Gardner is a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores the intersections of space, identity, and everyday experience. Working across painting, photography, and collage, Gardner constructs layered visual environments that examine how physical and social spaces shape perception, behavior, and psychological experience.
A native of Columbia, South Carolina, Gardner draws inspiration from a range of artistic movements and influences, including AfriCOBRA, Mundane Afrofuturism, Cubism, and Surrealism. His practice frequently engages the built environment—interiors, neighborhoods, and transitional spaces—transforming familiar settings into imaginative and sometimes disorienting compositions that reflect both personal memory and collective experience.
Central to Gardner’s work is an investigation of how individuals navigate environments where they may feel both visible and invisible. His paintings and collages often distort perspective, fragment space, and layer imagery to evoke the shifting nature of identity and the psychological impact of inhabiting spaces shaped by social expectations and historical context.
Gardner holds a Bachelor of Arts in Art Education from North Carolina A&T State University and a Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. In addition to his studio practice, he has worked as an educator, bringing a commitment to community engagement and critical dialogue into both his teaching and artistic work.
Through his evolving practice, Gardner continues to reimagine the relationship between space and self, creating work that invites viewers to consider how environments—both physical and psychological—shape the ways we understand ourselves and one another.
Artist Statement
As an extension of my thesis, Give Me Space, the Barbershop Series explores the barbershop as an introspective space for community gathering, personal maintenance, and reflection. Centered around a barber who has been part of my life since 2018, these works combine images of myself receiving a haircut, the barber station, and the shop interior. Through collage I compress these moments into a single layered experience, holding together memory, routine, and the intimacy of time spent in the barber chair.
