Caroline Gates is a New York City based painter transplanted from the American South. Working primarily in oil paint and soft pastels, she creates images inspired by questions of one's true identity, easily lost or masked in a world overwhelmed by diversity of opinion, lifestyle, and opportunity. A long time lover of poetry, where every word and punctuation mark matters, Gates likes to think about her subjects, color choices, and brush marks in a similar way. Her work is often quiet, stripped down to the bare essentials or even fragments of an idea.

Inspired by artists like Munch and Hopper, Gates thinks about the psychological impact of color rather than strict naturalism. She is fascinated by how one's mood or preconceived notions can impact one's perception of the world around them. In thinking about individual identity, the feeling of the image, then, becomes more important to Gates than the strict translation of physical reality into paint.

A 2021 graduate of the New York Academy of Art, she has shown in galleries including the Six Summit Gallery, the Salmagundi Club, VillageOne Art, and Neighbor.