4 Colorado Artists Whose Works Reframe Natural And Manmade Worlds

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painting of little girl surrounded by palms

SUCHITRA MATTAI

At first glance, the artworks of Suchitra Mattai reveal two things about their creator: First, her mastery of a wide array of mediums, from sewing, crocheting and embroidering to painting and sculpting. Second, the Denverite’s deep connection to her family’s South Asian roots and the far-flung places she has called home—from her birthplace of Guyana to Canada, India and France—celebrated with indigenous colors, textures and motifs inspired by Indian miniature paintings, plants from the Caribbean, and European, Colonial-era patterns. In Mattai’s hands, these elements share untold histories while challenging authoritative narratives, especially those surrounding colonialism. suchitramattaiart.com

PHOTO BY WES MAGYAR

artwork with white paint strokes

DAMON LA SCALA

“The flow of the brush is instinctive to me,” says Denver-based artist Damon La Scala, who has gravitated toward painting since his childhood. But it was when he began creating reverse paintings on Plexiglas that he found “great rhythm,” he says. “I’m dyslexic, so I tend to see layers of a painting backwards, and I feel that this technique best captures my creative process and energy.” Often commissioned by homeowners and designers to create art for specific spaces, La Scala explores a variety of themes through his work, from mountain landscapes and iconic Western animals to cubist human figures—some expressed with a minimalist’s palette, others in bold, saturated hues. The common thread, La Scala says, is “abstraction, flow and texture. I celebrate a paint drip or an imperfect line and the energy the raw strokes leave behind. There is a symbiotic relationship between me and the brushstroke. We use each other.” studiolascala.com

PHOTO COURTESY DAMON LA SCALA

colorful artwork on canvas

OLIVE MOYA

Denver-based illustrator-turned-painter Olive Moya refers to her vibrant, graphic compositions as abstract storytelling. Some of Moya’s stories are autobiographical—“a way for me to convey fear and frustration through tangled, angry line work or make calming spaces in lieu of any in reality,” she says—though abstraction allows viewers to create their own meanings and connections. “It’s the same reason I love painting murals,” she says, referring to the public works that adorn the Cherry Creek Trail at Speer and Clarkson, downtown Denver’s Republic Plaza building, and a variety of Mile High City retail and restaurant locations. “It’s out there for anyone to see or find ownership over.” olivemoya.com

PHOTO COURTESY OLIVE MOYA

strips of artwork hanging on walls

JOEL SWANSON 

Joel Swanson’s hope is that after you’re struck by the minimal, conceptual and playful qualities of his work, you’re also persuaded to question words and their meanings. “Language can be beautifully expressive, complicated and poetic, but it can also be reductive, marginalizing and destructive,” the artist says. “Once we learn how to read…it becomes autonomic, like breathing. My work attempts to interrupt this immediacy of reading, giving people the opportunity to perceive language, and its power, from new perspectives.” joelericswanson.com

PHOTO COURTESY JOEL SWANSON AND DAVID B. SMITH GALLERY