2013 Catalogue Archive

In Colby Bird’s recent photographs, architectural divisions, such as doors and windows, function as pictorial and psychological devises. Still Life With 15 Shutters (Toyoview 4 X 5), juxtaposes a light-filled landscape with a composed still life on a window ledge. Bird’s title includes information on the brand of large-format camera he uses, keying us in to the high level of detail present in the objects on the windowsill (ie: the artist’s Xanax prescription and a souvenir beer mug from London). The shutters, a means of filtering or closing off the outside world, exists as a boundary between the blurry exterior, and sharp-focus interior, offering a distinct sense of the point of view and emotional state of the artist at the time the image was taken. Bird lives and works in New York and has works in a number of collections, most notably the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. His work has been exhibited at the Drawing Center, New York; the Simón I. Patiño Museum, Santa Cruz; the AutoCenter, Berlin; Arthouse at the Jones Center, Austin; Aspen Art Museum; and BAM, New York.