C.W. Carson
Biography 2011
C. W. Carson is a multi media artist (photographer, painter, drawer, sculptor, installation artist). He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Alberta, and received a M.F.A. in painting from the University of British Columbia.
Carson has exhibited widely in Alberta, taking part in shows at the Art Gallery of Alberta, Latitude 53, Snap Gallery, Harcourt House Gallery, The Prairie Art Gallery, Douglas Udell Gallery and The Glenbow Museum. Some of the prominent shows in his recent past include “I
AM” exhibited at The Art Gallery of Alberta (composed of 144 diverse portraits of
pop icons – heroes, villains and art historical references). The exhibition “I AM” spelled out
the name C.W. Carson. In 2008 Carson’s solo exhibition “Stories from the Inner City” was featured at Latitude 53 in Edmonton.
Carson’s art deals with visual ‘over indulgence.’ Inspired by popular culture mixed with a dose of high art, Carson tends to work on a small scale complicating rooms. An urban artist with a trap line, rather than collecting bottles and cans, he collects images and stories. Carson deals with crime and grime, sometimes even beauty. Following in the tradition of Henry David Thoreau, Carson is a scientific observer of the
minute changes in nature. Unlike Thoreau, his ‘trap line’ is the natural world found in the inner city. He is a visual voyeur. Occasionally even an ‘ambulance chaser’. He collects, filling his pockets with the detritus of a lost civilization. He records.
Carson uses, reuses and abuses content, material and media in the art making process. His art reflects his multifaceted life as a twenty first century white urban gay Canadian.
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
Stories from the Inner City
Latitude 53, Edmonton
February – March 2008
Water Logged
Douglas Udell Gallery, Edmonton.
February – March 2004
High & Low
Harcourt House Art Centre, Edmonton.
October – November 2002
I AM
The Edmonton Art Gallery, Edmonton.
November 1999 – January 2000
Building Bridges
Prairie Art Gallery, Grande Prairie.
January – March 1999
(and Provincial Travelling Exhibition:1999 - 2000)
Ninety Nine
SNAP Gallery, Edmonton.
November – December 1998
PIRATES OF ART
The Edmonton Art Gallery, Edmonton.
January – June 1997
Reinterpreting the Classics
Commerce Place Galleria, Edmonton.
November 1996
At Home: Selected Animals in their Environment
McMullen Gallery, Edmonton.
November 1992 – January 1993
Urban Revitalization
The Edmonton Art Gallery, Edmonton.
October 1992
From the Ark
The Works, Edmonton.
June – July 1991
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
Bathhouse
Steamworks, Exposure Festival, Edmonton
November 2008
flat
Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton
April – May 2007
snapshots
Latitude 53, Edmonton.
April – May 2006
