b. 1965
Raleigh, NC

Colby Caldwell currently lives and works in St. Mary’s City, MD, and Asheville, NC with his two dogs, smalls and Poe. He graduated from the Corcoran School of Art (now College of Art and Design) in 1990. From 1997-2001, Caldwell taught in both the Fine Art and the Photography departments at the Corcoran. Currently he is an Associate Professor of Art at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. Caldwell has curated two shows – “Practice Makes Perfect”, at DCAC, in Washington DC, and “Made History: Important Soviet WWII Photographs”, at Boyden Gallery, St. Mary’s College. His work has been shown both nationally and internationally since 1988.

His last solo show at Hemphill Gallery in Washington DC in 2007 entitled small game, was reviewed in Art Forum. In the review, critic Nord Wennerstrom wrote, “ The physicality of traditional photography has long been a driving force behind Caldwell’s work, but small game represents his parallel dedication to the use of digital imaging. The quality of his presentation remains consistent across media –refined and elegant, here also benefiting from exceptionally careful installation.”

Wennerstrom continued, “His treatment of the theme of absence, represented by land-and riverscapes, is equally engaging…after nature (63) engagingly balances the heroic, and the transcendent…”. In closing, he noted, “…(rounds, the 5-channel video piece in small game) cogently and movingly elucidates the artist’s connection with his subject matter and ably represents the intellectual heft of his outwardly process-oriented methodology.”

Caldwell was selected for the 48th Corcoran Biennial, Closer to Home in 2006. Most recently he collaborated with Elijah Gowin for a two-person show, The Heaviest Flower, which opened in October 2009 at Paragraph Gallery in Kansas City and he had a one-person exhibition entitled, rounds that opened in January 2010 at Goodyear Gallery at Dickinson College. Caldwell is featured in the book, “100 DC Artists”, which was published in 2011.

Currently, Caldwell is working on his first monograph tentatively titled small game.

March 23 – May 5, 2012

Opening Reception: Friday, March 23, 7-9pm

Colby Caldwell’s spent series is new photographic work based on shotgun shell casings of varying ages and in varying states of decay found throughout the rural farm where he lives in St. Mary’s County, Maryland. Through scanning these shells at high resolution and presenting them on stark white backgrounds, the artist has imported what might be called “refuse” into the domain of photography, presenting the material almost as billboards touting memory and the passage of time.