Interview with Dorielle Caimi

by Emily Lovejoy
Dorielle Caimi was raised in New Mexico with a father who was an artist;
his dad was also an artist, her grandfather. As a third generation artist, she
was taught art primarily by her father. She learned her technique by showing
her drawings to her father as a child and having him critique them. Caimi
explains that growing up in New Mexico she was able to go to the galleries
there, specifically in Santa Fe. She was always going and examining what the
artists were doing and how they paint, it was a great learning experience,
and she also got a lot of inspiration from that. Dorielle completed a BFA
(Summa Cum Laude) in Painting from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle,
WA in 2010 and a Master Class in Painting at the Art Students League of
Denver, CO. in 2013.

EL- First of all thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me, and letting me pick your
brain a bit.
Feel free to correct me or add to this, but based on the interviews Ive read your
work seems to depict non-sexualized female figures experiencing or contemplating some
type of internal or emotional struggle, having to do with the burden women feel in modern
society. Your work also appears to be timeless in the way that you pull from a number of
aesthetically different artistic periods and genres from classical to contemporary. Would you
say thats accurate?
DC- Yes. Though my figures are often naked, I like to challenge my viewers with subjects
that are not concerned with their own sexuallity. I like to paint women the way my multifaceted psyche feels. I hope that the women I paint offer more insight to our complexities.
EL- So, now that the readers have a sense of you as an artist I
have a lot of short, kind of pointed questions (and some not some much) that Ive come up
with over the past few weeks as youve really sparked my interest.
DC- Fire away!
EL- Ha thanks! Do you still have a studio in Oakland and one in Albuquerque, and do the
surroundings where the studios are located have an effect on your work?

DC- My health deteriorated when I was living in Oakland. So I moved back home to
Albuquerque and I now live and work exclusively from New Mexico for the time being. I
recently acquired a new studio in Old Town, Albuquerque.
When I can get into a painting, it doesnt matter where I am, but Ive found that in
order to work into a good groove, I need quiet. I also really love that my studio is about 20
steps away from my home and walking distance from restaurants and coffee shops because
breaks are a crucial part of my work day.

EL- Do you surround yourself with other creatives, and are you part of an artistic scene or
community?

DC- After I graduated from college in 2010, I spent five years pretty much alone in my
studio with no one really in my life except my dog, family, husband, and housemates. I
purposefully didnt want to be around any other visual artists except me. I was still kinda
purging all the bullshit of art school. I knew I needed to find my own voice and that required
me to ignore pretty much everyone who had an opinion about art.

Eventually, though, I started feeling stronger in my creative efforts but I was

feeling lonely, so I started making an effort to get back out into the creative community. I
am hoping to also start teaching workshops in the new year. Im finding that connecting with
people is just as important as the time I spend alone doing my art.

EL- Whats your favorite band or type of music that really gets you in the zone? Do listen to
podcasts and if so which ones would you recommend?

DC- Yes and yes. My favorite musical artist (one that has really influenced my art) is The
Knife. I also really love First Aid Kit, Austra, Brandi Carlile, and Grimes. I have a Bad Ass
Lady Music playlist on Spotify women artists I really love, and am adding to all the time. I

also listen to a lot of jazz, classical, and folk music. I like to listen to KEXP, Seattles listenersupported radio, and, of course, podcasts. Right now Im obsessed with Dear Sugar Radio,
Cheryl Strayeds podcast where people write in with some of the worst problems, and they
are offered loving advice and guidance. I also love Hidden Brain, Wait, Wait, Dont Tell Me,
The Moth, This American Life, and Death Sex and Money. And then of course, there are
audio books.

EL- Who are your favorite artists working today and who do you find yourself drawing
inspiration from?
DC- Jenny Morgan, Korehiko Hino, Tomoko Kashiki, and Aleah Chapin. Aleah and I went to
school together and she has changed the game as far as figurative painting goes. She
paints very real human bodies. Her work resonates with me so much because she is not
afraid to show the body as it is.
There are hundreds of other artists I look to for inspiration, but these four have
been pretty constant.
EL- Also something Im curious about after realizing how much I seem to have in common
with you is on a daily basis like how much time do you spend painting a day, how much time
do you spend marketing/promoting your work, do you reach out directly to galleries or do
curators tend to find you on their own, and do you have any part time jobs or other sources
of income? I feel like so many artists today have to have side jobs to make ends meet. What
are your thoughts on that?
DC- Unfortunately, artists are still the janitors, the baristas, and the retail associates of
America. And also, too many of us do work for free and/or for exposure (we have to start
changing that). I work three days a week as an artist assistant to supplement my income. I
spent the last ten years working all sorts of jobs. I am fortunate to have this job now
because it is directly related to my field and my boss is very inclusive about her
opportunites. We are helping to grow each others art careers.
Ive gone through periods of time where I was lucky enough to be able to work fulltime on my art. When this happens, I stick to a very strict routine. I wake up, get myself fed,
have some coffee, and slide into the studio to paint on a full stomach. I paint about three
hours a day. I find that it is incredibly important to compartmentalize my week as a selfemployed artist. I spend about six hours a week at a library or coffee house to focus on art
administration: grant writing, gallery correspondence, residency applications, and other selfpromotional endeavors. Thats a huge part of being an artist.
Some days are incredibly difficult to get myself into the studio, either emotionally

or physically (I deal with chronic pain from over-used muscles from painting...thats a whole
other side of my life now: healing), so I dont push myself as hard as I used to. I think I felt a
lot of pressure right after college to get an art career launched before my biological window
for children closed in on me. I was under this warped perception that I only had ten years to
get an art career going. I mean, the push was good for my career, but bad for my body and
my psyche. I am now 31 and coming to terms with the idea that I dont have to have
children, and that if I want them, that doesnt mean I have to give up my career. This is
something I paint about, actually, because I think a lot of young career-driven women live
with this weight.

EL- I also do a lot of self-portraits simply because like you said Im just readily available to
myself and I dont have to coordinate a model. I try to use context clues other than clothing
to represent the era of art Im a part of. Another thing I noticed we have in common is that
we use photography with the intent of using our own images as source material for
paintings. My question is, do you see yourself ever doing anything more with photography
that just using it as source material? (I almost didnt know where that question was going
haha)
DC- Yes! I am actually getting more into photography. Photographing myself and other
women (and maybe eventually even men...well see) has actually been a catalyst to working
with photography. I have a constant cacophony of ideas coming into my head and I, quite
frankly, cant paint fast enough. I also get tired of painting, you know? Its incredibly hard,
slow work and I think it would be healthy to branch out into another medium.
EL- I really enjoyed reading your description of She Got Hold of My Lipstick and how the
yellow background was influenced. Could you tell me more about that?

DC- Im not sure what description you read, but when I painted that painting, I was at the
end of art school and was on the verge of either having to flush out all the academicallyopinionated art voices, or finding my own voice. It was like...I dont know...a form of insanity:
learning about other peoples art for five years and wondering how on earth all that shit
applied to my life. So I expressed that in this painting. Thats one personal interpretation:
confusion.
Another interpretation is simply that women are under so much pressure to be
and look a certain way. This pressure is a form of distraction from our real selves. This I
believe with my whole heart. We tell women that they are prettier with lipstick, which is fine if
a woman can understand that all it is is her putting paint on her face. But when a woman is

told that she looks pretty with lipstick, and then she intertwines that compliment with self
worth, then she has a real problem. If we idolize that prettiness with the standard for which
we are worthy of love, then we get our hearts and minds into a twisted and warped mess of
vanity. And, I dont know about you, but it makes me feel inhuman sometimes and
somewhat insane. I just want to challenge people to look past the womans sexual appeal
and help her remember her humanness. And I hope that that realization can help women to
lean in and apply their transcendent human power to the world instead of lean out at the
behest of physical appeal.

EL- What advice do you have for other artists in the early stages of their careers who are
possibly deciding whether or not to pursue art full time?
DC- Just start. No one is going to give you permission. No one is going to fire the gun into
the air and say Take your mark. Do a little bit every day with utmost sincerity and
professionalism and be patient. Also, dont underestimate yourself or others, and dont get
caught up in the jealousy game.
Heres an anecdote to make my point: When I was in school, I remember looking
at Aleah Chapins paintings in the painting lab drying racks and arrogantly thinking, Shes
good, but shes got a long way to go. And i doubted shed go the distance. But I was so
wrong. She then went on to study at the New York Academy and transformed her painting
techniques to a level of wow that one can only dream of. She won the BP portrait award, is
internationally represented, has been given numerous awards by prestigious art
organizations, and has earned the respect of painting super stars such as Chuck Close and
Eric Fischl.
I wrestled with the jealousy monster just enough to realize that if I kept it up, I
would lose momentum in my work. I then realized that her success was a very real indicator
that if she could find her voice and her success, then I could find mine. I decided to dig
deep and learn how to paint the figure better and continue to find my artistic voice. She and
I remain close and talk about our lives as creators and have held each other to the light of
success.
I think young artists look to others for inspiration, which is a great place to start,
but dont look to them to judge yourself. No one has a right to tell you youre not good
enough because, who knows, if you dont give up, you might explode one day. Just pace
yourself and do your good art and keep looking for your voice. Thats your job.

EL- In a similar vein the previous question, what advice would you give yourself 5 or even
10 years ago?

DC- In addition to everything I just said, Id say to myself, there is a lot of smoke and
mirrors in the art world. There is so much appropriation and artistic efforts made in the
name of cool, radical, or different. But you cant be truly any of those things if you
operate from outside your own sincere self and authentic experience. Start there, and trust

only that: your true self. Its not hard. Its actually easy. Its just you doing what gives you
those God-tingles (my friends and I like to use that term). You know, that feeling of, yeah,
this is me and I am soo more than enough.

EL- When youre working on a painting do you ever feel like its not going in the direction
you want and if so how do you deal with that? Do you just let it play out and see what
happens or do you ever scrap something in the early stages if you feel like its not really
working?
DC- Yes. Every time. When I was younger, I used to get that feeling and sometimes I would
take the canvas and literally stomp on it on the ground. I would get angry with my hands for
not carrying out my vision. I dont know if youve seen my in-progress images of my work on
Instagram, but the first stages of my work are literally terrifying. My last painting started out
looking like Maynard Keenan (the lead singer of Tool).
Now, Ive learned that if I can apply the utmost patience and presence of mind
with my work, I will paint until I get it right. Its always brush stroke by brush stroke. The key
is to not criticize yourself and over-anticipate all the brushstrokes and troubleshooting you
have to do. My friend (a Seattle-based musician) says Art is the discipline of being. You

have to focus on nothing but the moment if youre ever going to create great art...or at
least earn yourself that place of transcendent work-flow: you know, when youre in the zone
and the world falls away from your skin peacefully.
Now, I can actually laugh when things are going badly on canvas. I expect it. I know
that I can work the painting to my own will if I dont let it work me. They say that criticism
and creation cannot occur simultaneously. Dont think about it too much when youre
working, just work. Save the criticism for the morning, when you come in with a rested body
and fresh mind and can see what you need to do next. Then do it.

EL- Can you tell us what you have in store for future paintings? Do you plan out multiple
paintings at a time or do you go one by one?

DC- I am working on some very large-scale paintings right now. After I finish this current
piece, I intend to work on a series of very small works, wherein the figure is small and
fragmented. In the further-off future, I intend to paint all people: men included. This is
because Im figuring out that our relationship with each other is as symbiotic as the Yin and
Yang symbol. So we will see, in time, where the work will go. I just have to be patient and
get myself into my studio every day.

EL- Is there anything else you want the readers to know?

DC- Hmm, for now, thats all.