Threshold (After Sonatine)

Maddison Colvin

gouache, acrylic ink, and gesso on paper, 22 x 15 inches

Made possible by a grant from the Center for Latter-day Saint Arts, Art for Uncertain Times

“Out There presses up against “In here”…

This work has taken on an added sense of claustrophobia and unease as we all become increasingly aware of both the protective and constrictive qualities of our indoor environments. “Out there” presses up against “in here” - it sticks to our hair, our doorknobs, our clothes. We look out of the windows and wait. The seasons change, smog clears, and weeds grow, quietly.

About the process of making Threshold (After Sonatine):

First I trawl through old garden catalogs and planting companion manuals to find compelling image. Then I make a composition in illustrator based on an architectural space- sometimes real, sometimes from a film- which I populate with these garden catalog photos. I then paint the composition section by section, taking liberties with colors and forms as necessary. My goal with these paintings is to have them feel simultaneously very alive, vibrant, and almost threatening- while also enforcing these very harsh boundaries upon the plant forms. This piece is meant to show a view looking down at a corner in the room past the threshold of a door. —Maddison Colvin, 2020

Maddison Colvin

is a visual artist and writer living and working in Eugene, Oregon until later this summer when she moves to Utah to begin a new position at BYU. Besides teaching and operating a collaborative exhibition space, known as Tropical Contemporary, she is busy parenting a two-year-old. She received her MFA from Brigham Young University and her BA from Whitworth University.

Her work consists of interconnected bodies, all radiating from a core interest in knowledge, its acquisition, its possibilities and its failures. For more on the artist, find her website here or @maddisoncolvin.