Ian McLaughlin
Artist Statement
The recent paintings and drawings are a response to these four words.
rainbows in the dirt
Like a Zen kōan, I contemplated this phrase. Each studio workday started with sweeping and
cleaning. Cleaning the dirt, dust and muck of yesterday. Contemplating the four words, sweeping
became a routine practice before painting and drawing.
Mostly, I’ve depicted what is adjacent to dirt and rainbows, but not entirely… geometric sharp rays of
color do cut into the paintings, rainbow-like, or maybe Exxon mobile logo-like, or 7Eleven logo-like.
For me the linen canvases, made from flax, act as dirt or earth- a sort of base-ground for the
paintings to grow from.
“Oh my gosh the rainbows are in the dirt, how sad!” Or “Oh my gosh there are rainbows in the dirt,
how wonderful!” Two obvious interpretations I ran into.
I appreciate how rainbows do not have any boundaries other than the “right” conditions of sunlight
and moisture. And, how dependent on dirt we are, for our food, vegetation, the greenery and such.
Rainbows are like ephemeral phantoms of “beauty,” laced in our lore, claimed by religion and causes
throughout history. I feel seduced by the magic of rainbows and adore them like a cool popsicle on a
hot summer day.
In production, at one point, I considered the paintings as edible cakes that I was making for my
friends and people I didn’t know. This approach of cake-making was liberating. Liberating from the
“western school of painting” which can be thick and sometimes heavy, overly academic, and
disembodied.
Kōan contemplation practice does not end with decisive answers or neat boundaries. If we’re lucky,
the contemplation of a few words- in this case, words like rainbows, words like dirt- will stop in its
tracks the very processes continually seeking a simple answer.
Artist Bio
McLaughlin holds a multidisciplinary studio practice rooted in painting that includes sculpture, film,
drawing, found objects, fabric, and a little bit of performance work too. He has worked as a wildland
firefighter/EMT, art handler, art restorer, bartender, soda jerk, handyman, open-air cremation
manager, taught high school and community art classes, and enjoys riding his bike
and cooking for his family as much as he can.
He grew up in Chicago, receiving his MFA in painting from the Cranbrook Academy of Art.
McLaughlin has shown in Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Kansas City, and Longmont. His work has been
written up in the Denver Post, Denver’s Westword, Barbed Magazine, Guardian Stewardship
Editions, and the Chicago Art Magazine.
He works and lives in Boulder, Colorado.
Selected Exhibitions
EDUCATION
2021 MFA, Painting, Cranbrook Academy of Art
2002 BFA, Painting, The Kansas City Art Institute
SELECT SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025 Rainbows in the dirt, Space Gallery, Denver, Colorado
2021 House-Trained, Space Gallery, Denver, Colorado
2020 Google, Boulder CO, (canceled covid-19)
2018 Messinger Gallery JCC, Boulder, Colorado
2017 Alternative Facts, Space Gallery, Denver, Colorado
2016 Colorado Ballet, Denver CO
2016 Love Bombs, 530 Sante Fe Dr, Denver, Colorado
2015 Nature’s Line, Space Gallery,Denver, Colorado
2013 Mind over Matter , Space Gallery, Denver, Colorado
2010 Synesthesia for the Times, Living Room Gallery, Chicago, IL
SELECT GROUP SHOWS & PROJECTS
2024 Art Fair Detroit, Detroit Michigan
2022 Risky Business, Firehouse Art Center, Longmont Colorado
2022 Might Real Queer Detroit, Collected Detroit, Detroit, Michigan
2021 Graduate Degree Exhibition, Cranbrook Art Museum, Michigan
2021 Speculative Histories, Saarinen House, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Michigan
2020 Fresh Paint, Painting Dpt, Forum Gallery, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
2020 Second Year MFA show, Forum Gallery, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
2019 Pearl Street Project, Boulder Creative Collective, Boulder, Colorado
2019 Grand Open Space Gallery Annex, Denver, Colorado
2017 Best of, Space Gallery, Denver, Colorado
2016 Winter Show, Space Gallery, Denver, Colorado
2016 Longmont Front Range Film Festival, Firehouse Art Center.
2014 End of Year Best of, Space Gallery, Denver Colorado
2014 Space Gallery New Building Grand Opening, Denver, Colorado
2013 Total Abstraction, Republic Plaza, Denver, Colorado
2013 Summer Show, Space Gallery, Denver, Colorado
2012 Winter Invitational, Buena Suerte a los Compañeros, Telephonebooth Gallery, Kansas City, MO
2010 Sonar Donkey-Deer Days music, Rogers Park Peoples Radio, Chicago IL
2010 Sonar Donkey-Deer Days, shown at US Social Forum, Detroit, Michigan
2010 Dharma Art, Chicago, IL
2008 Around The Coyote Spring Show, Chicago, IL
2008 Bubble Burst Time, d/vision gallery, Chicago, IL
2002 Kansas City Art Institute BFA Show, H & R Block Art Space, Kansas City, MO
2002 Kansas City Filmmakers Jubilee, Kansas City, MO
2002 Treehouse Meeting, Kelvin Gallery, Kansas City, MO
1998 The Opie Gallery, Kansas City MO
Awards
AWARDS & SCHOLARSHIPS
2021 Cranbrook Academy of Art: President’s Award for Sustainability
1998 Kansas City Art Institute: Scholarship
1998 The Chicago Academy for the Arts: Humanitarian Award
1996 The Chicago Academy for the Arts: Polk Brothers Foundation scholarship
1994 The Chicago Academy for the Arts: Scholarship
Publications
2020 Barbed Magazine, Spring 2020, Detroit
2017 Review: Layered Takes in Alternative Facts at Space Gallery, Denver Westword
2014 Earls Restaurant on the 16th Street Mall Gets sleek new renovation, Denver Post
2013 Review of Mind over Matter show at Space Gallery, Westword Denver
2013 Interview with Ian McLaughlin, Gaurdian Stewardship Editions
2011 Studio Visit Magazine, Vol 16
2010 Chicago Art Magazine
