{"id":36671,"date":"2018-03-24T20:39:47","date_gmt":"2018-03-25T02:39:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=36671"},"modified":"2018-09-19T07:19:14","modified_gmt":"2018-09-19T13:19:14","slug":"logan-madsen-art-of-pain-immediacy-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/logan-madsen-art-of-pain-immediacy-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Logan Madsen: Art of Pain & Immediacy"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/a>I first encountered Logan Madsen\u2019s artwork upon stumbling into Art Access during his debut solo exhibit in 2006. Since then, his work has metamorphosed: from the subject matter of bold-colored flowers into a harrowing, self-referential realism.I was excited to attend\u00a0Syndrome Psychology<\/em>, an art exhibit at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA). The event was held in conjunction with the Utah Film Center screening of Nathan Meier\u2019s 2017 Carmel International Film Festival Best Documentary, \u201cLogan\u2019s Syndrome.\u201dWhich raises a question: Would Logan\u2019s art be notable if he wasn\u2019t one of fewer than 30\u00a0people in the world who suffer from the genetic condition postaxial acrofacial dysostosis (Miller\u2019s Syndrome)? Or if he wasn\u2019t on the autistic spectrum? Or if\u00a0he\u00a0hadn\u2019t had a life-threatening lung disease?<\/p>\n

Existentialists among us will point to Heidegger and argue that\u00a0we all\u00a0suffer the fate of mortality. But when this kid was born, doctors told his parents that he\u2019d die at any moment. Like,\u00a0<\/span>literally\u00a0<\/i>any moment. That was on April Fool\u2019s Day in 1980. He\u2019s been breathing since (with difficulty) and painting in a state of physical pain that the majority of us can\u2019t fathom.<\/p>\n

Still, because it\u2019s difficult to talk about the artist without sympathizing with his disease, and because we live in a world that champions the unextraordinary accomplishments of people who are afflicted in ways we are grateful to not be, the question remains: is Madsen\u2019s art worthy or is it simply good\u2014because<\/em>?<\/p>\n

If you take Logan\u2019s word for it, plenty of artists have superior training. In terms of art history, Logan says he doesn\u2019t \u201cknow anything.\u201d Agree with Logan and the\u00a0only reason<\/em>\u00a0people like his art\u00a0is because\u00a0<\/em>of his condition.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Conversely, my opinion is that Logan\u2019s disease informs his creativity with a perspective on life that is as unique as the art he creates. Would Logan\u2019s art be notable if he wasn\u2019t who he is? Note to Logan:\u00a0We can ask this about any artist<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Logan\u2019s exacting portraits and intricate human forms convey an alienation and anguish that, although highly personal and categorically unique, speak to the human condition of suffering. Logan\u2019s work is charged with pain and immediacy. But there is also hope and humility in his brush stroke. Stylistically, his work is utterly accomplished and reminiscent of the self-portraits of Francis Bacon, who wrote: \u201cI feel ever so strongly that an artist must be nourished by his passions and his despairs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Logan\u2019s artistry expresses a mastery of self-consciousness. Although his work arrives to us as the result of a condition for which he\u2019s endured a lifetime of gawking, he engages each canvas with honesty, vulnerability, passion, and despair that nourishes the viewer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started painting after things fell apart on me,\u201d Logan said while trying to be polite but really just wanting to eat his hummus. \u201cI painted a little in high school but then consciously dropped art. I didn\u2019t see any value to it. I was set on a 9-to-5. My whole focus in life was to be an adult. I wanted to get a job and be\u2014nobody.\u201d<\/p>\n

I asked why he didn\u2019t pursue that path.<\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t do that because of my disabilities. I was in such denial. I didn\u2019t even believe that I looked different. I couldn\u2019t figure out why life was so hard. I was drinking all the time and working odd jobs through a temp agency. I didn\u2019t have any direction. Then Mom said, \u2018Go to graphic design school,\u2019 so I went to Utah Career College. Did 18 months for my associate\u2019s degree.\u201d<\/p>\n

Logan has always drawn things that others couldn\u2019t\u2014a point of pleasure and pride throughout his life. But he didn\u2019t complete his first \u201creal painting\u201d until 2001 or 2002.<\/p>\n

\u201cI moved to Palm Springs for three months to help my uncle who ran this landscaping business. I was a laborer, but things fell apart. My car got stolen. I was drinking. Doing drugs. Then one day I started this painting. My subject matter was palm tree fronds. Up-close palm fronds. From there I transitioned into a series of flowers that some people compared to Georgia O\u2019Keeffe. I chose flowers because I thought the paintings would sell but I knew I could reproduce the images on cards.\u201d<\/p>\n

When I ask about his influences, he wryly admits to being \u201cwoefully ignorant about artists. My goal is to just paint. Anything and everything.<\/span>\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The problem is that with such short and deformed arms, Logan is constantly stressing his body to use them. \u201cMy pain goes to 10\u00a0while I\u2019m painting,\u201d he admits. \u201cSometimes it\u2019s just unbearable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, Logan commits four hours a day to the process. To date, his body of work accounts for approximately 40\u00a0paintings. Still, he produces. And those productions are really, really, hauntingly good.<\/p>\n

For more information about Logan Madsen\u2019s art, visit\u00a0https:\/\/www.loganmadsenfineart.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I first encountered Logan Madsen\u2019s artwork upon stumbling into Art Access during his debut solo exhibit in 2006. Since then, his work has metamorphosed: from the subject matter of bold-colored flowers into a harrowing, self-referential realism.I was excited to attend\u00a0Syndrome Psychology, an art exhibit at the Utah Museum […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1570,"featured_media":36672,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_piecal_is_event":false,"_piecal_start_date":"","_piecal_end_date":"","_piecal_is_allday":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,14],"tags":[1911],"class_list":["post-36671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exhibition_reviews","category-visual_arts","tag-logan-madsen"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Stuck-350x467.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-01 07:51:55","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1570"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36671"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36671\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37722,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36671\/revisions\/37722"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}