A Moment's Time: A Painting Exhibition by Jordan Caldwell

Being born and raised in Albuquerque I grew up in a trailer park, the middle child in a single parent home. I always had this weird feeling to not expect much from my life, I was content with simplicity and mundanity. As a kid I always had an affinity for making art. I liked painting and drawing and I took various types of art classes through high school and college.

I remember the day I was inspired to paint was when I first saw Edward Hopper's Nighthawks, my favorite painting. Hopper is my primary influence on my arts style and subject matter. I connect with his beautiful and lonely depictions of the world and time he grew up in. An equally great influence in my work is music, particularly instrumentally jazz and certain rappers. Jazz invoking many feelings and moods, sad, soothing, upbeat. The instrumental aspect creates a sense of introspection. Musical artists such as MF DOOM and Kill Bill the Rapper express the struggles of having an average or uneventful upbringing in the developed world today.

I want to paint modern landscapes that depict the cold isolation and hidden beauty that I and others experience every day. I prefer to use oil paint, as well as creating my own canvases. In my future work I hope to grow in my technical skills but primarily I aim to have a clear understanding of my feelings and therefore a greater depiction of those feelings.