2019

250 Minutes; 25 Portraits // What is in a label?

This series is a response and challenge to Walter Benjamin’s, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. The artist asked the question: What distinguishes one form of image-making from another? Further what value judgments do these distinctions carry with them? For this project, Colin set up a strict set of rules: the artist must always create the artwork in the studio. He must always put the substratum in the same location. He must always use the same materials: Sumi ink, white acrylic paint and six sheets of computer paper taped together with masking tape and held to the wall by blue painter’s tape. He had a subject stand in front of him for 10 minutes or less. During those ten minutes, the artist would use his materials to capture their likeness as quickly and efficiently as possible. Ultimately the artist’s interest was in challenging the respective lines between printmaking as opposed to drawing as opposed to painting.

The Hill

This large-scale drawing, (72'“ x 110”) represents a narrative exploration of memory and how it relates to childhood trauma. The work was an inquiry into the myths born from past developmental traumatic memories and the role these myths play in the process of creative expression.

Nature Boy

This painting and sculpture combination represents an excavation of trauma. Centering around the subject of childhood bullying, the artist strategically omits the child’s arms in an effort to display a lack of autonomy.