Ineptitude as much as corruption plagues the historical figures in Caitlin Cass' work. Embracing the exaggeration that exists as a part of folklore or an oral storytelling tradition, tragic capitalist figures often get their comeuppance; weighed down by their deep pockets or imprisoned in jails they built themselves. Tinged with both exasperation and humor, these historic failures of industry and commerce have the very same flavor as contemporary anxieties. The inequalities between the wealthy and working class help fuel her drawings' narratives however, those tensions feel familiar and current. Cass' drawings of improbable architecture, defunct inventions, and torsos substituted for bulging moneybags, are often as precarious as the colloquial language of characters navigating their existential crises. Her hand, in its casual rendering of text and images, attests to the value of these imaginative versions of the truth—not entirely verified, but legitimate in their implications.
Bio: Caitlin Cass makes comics and counterfeit historical exhibits inspired by failure throughout history. Recent counterfeit historical exhibits include How to Fly in America (part of Amid/In WNY at Hallwalls) and The Museum of Failure (which has been exhibited in Buffalo, Rochester, and Washington D.C.). In addition to exhibits, Caitlin makes a bimonthly comic periodical under the moniker The Great Moments in Western Civilization Postal Constituent. Her comics have also appeared in The Public and The Chicago Reader. Caitlin was a 2015 fellow at I-Park in East Haddam, CT and 2016 artist-in-residence at Byrdcliffe Arts Colony in Woodstock, NY. She holds an MFA in Visual Studies from the University at Buffalo and a BA in Great Books from St. John's College in Santa Fe, NM. Caitlin lives and works in Buffalo and teaches Art at Buffalo Seminary.
How to Fly in America, 2016
