Carl E. Hazlewood

Carl E. Hazlewood uses the structural language of abstraction as a clarifying act of progress in what he considers an unstable world. Through a suite of shapes and symbols, his work speaks to the power of resiliency through references to Anansi the Spider, a prominent character in West African and Caribbean folklore. More broadly, Hazlewood's approach to his work and life seeks to counter the insinuation that there may be limitations on what he should do or what he can achieve. Carl strives for an art and life of open possibilities, for a poetic presentness beyond time, place, race and other distracting polemics.

Hazlewood (b. 1951) was born in Guyana, South America. He received a BFA with honors, from Pratt Institute, and an MA from Hunter College, CUNY. Parallel to his studio practice, Hazlewood co-founded Aljira, a Center for Contemporary Art in Newark, NJ in 1983. His fifty-two-foot-tall wall work, TRAVELER (2017), was commissioned by the Knockdown Center, Queens. Hazlewood participated in the Art Cake residency at Cordy and Ethan Ryman’s Studio Program in Sunset Park, Brooklyn (2020–22). Carl was elected a National Academician in the Class of 2025 by The National Academy of Design. Hazlewood has been the recipient of fellowships at the MacDowell organization (2023, 2015); the Brown Foundation at the Dora Maar House, Ménerbes, France (2018); and the Bogliasco Foundation, Italy (2018). 

Solo exhibitions of his work include BlackHead Anansi: Constellations at Charlotte and Philip Hanes Gallery, Wake Forest University, South Carolina (2023); Racing Thoughts-Fever Dreaming at Art Basel Miami Beach (2022); and BlackHead Lyricism at Welancora Gallery in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn (2022). He also participated in group exhibitions at Skoto Gallery, New York (2022, 2016, 2014); Jordan Schnitzer Gallery at Dieu Donné, Brooklyn, New York (2019); and NARS Foundation, Brooklyn, New York (2017). 

His work is in the collections of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, OMI International Art Center, The Francis J. Greenberger Collection, The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, and The Dora Maar House, among others.

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