Morgan Craig Artist Talk

Morgan Craig is an oil painter that predominantly works in incredibly large scale, some of his paintings having dimensions spanning several feet, and with very intricate, realistic levels of detail. He predominantly focuses on “landscapes”, however they are not your traditional landscape painting that focus on the inherent beauty of nature. Craig, instead, paints industrial landscapes, and these landscapes in particular are representations of real, abandoned factories, schools buildings, and so forth. Even though Craig does paint these landscapes with an acute attention to capturing realistic detail and proportions, he does slightly adjust colors and the lighting to his liking in order to amplify the aesthetic appeal of his artwork as well as push forward his message of the importance these now destroyed places once had to a particular group. He not only portrays these places in such a way to bring attention to their once valued state of being, but to also bring attention to the cyclical rise and destruction of buildings, the economy, and individual livelihoods caused by capitalism and trickle down economics. The combination of the vibrant colors and lighting as well as the size of his works brings both an alluring and commanding aesthetic quality to his work as well as coaxes out a message about the demanding and overwhelming nature of capitalism.