How My Paintings Are Actually Made 2020

Editor: Here we have "How My Paintings Are Actually Made," an oil and acrylic on canvas completed in 2020 by Adam Caldwell. I'm immediately struck by the layered imagery—the painting depicts an artist surrounded by their work, and the paintings within the painting feel simultaneously reverent and vulnerable. What’s your take on it? Curator: Caldwell presents us with not just a portrait, but an active interrogation of artistic labor itself. The means of production are laid bare. We see not just the finished object, but the process – the artist literally surrounded by the fruits and materials of their labor, canvases stacked like inventory. Note the layering of surfaces, the raw canvas texture fighting with smooth portraiture. Editor: It feels almost meta, a painting about painting. Curator: Precisely. And it’s vital to consider the socioeconomic dimensions. Caldwell isn’t presenting some romanticized garret; the scene evokes something closer to a workshop, an enterprise. He's questioning the value judgments we assign to the art object versus the art labor needed for creation. Are these workers presented within a co-op, selling individual portraits from within a larger whole? Are they contracted? Note how these portraits mimic mass produced 'religious icons' and are slightly varied copies from the single original presented within the painting itself. Editor: So, it challenges the preciousness often associated with “fine art?" Curator: Absolutely. Consider the artist’s own labor – the very act of creating this piece, which includes images of mass-produced works! By making "how," we begin to see "why," as it emphasizes artistic creation within specific social and material constraints. The artist asks us to reflect: What truly dictates something as art? And by extension, it requires us to inquire: Who makes that decision, why, and for whom? Editor: I see it now—the focus shifts from admiring the beautiful finished product to contemplating the actual hands and conditions that brought it into existence. Thank you. Curator: It reframes how we consider artmaking and moves it from some innate talent to that of practical skillset; Caldwell's portrait invites introspection not just of artistry but art-economy in total.