A sense of intrigue and curiosity building in the imagination – to explore, discover and capture what few see and offer new visuals of the world around us…
Robert Colgan is a photographic artist from Columbus, Ohio. Born in Elyria, Ohio, he actually spent his formative years living in Louisiana. This was the beginning of his interests in history, architecture and myth – all dynamic elements of his work. After returning to Ohio, he earned a Fine Arts degree from The Ohio State University. Robert has been photographing for over 30 years and has exhibited throughout the Midwest. He received an Individual Artist’s Fellowship from the Ohio Arts Council in 1992.
September 2004: The Columbus Magazine featured artist
February 2000: Short North Gazette cover article
January 2000: Fund raising calendar for the Columbus AIDS task Force
March/April 1990: Columbus ART, Anger/Apathy Issue, published by the Columbus Art League Grants
1992: Individual Artists Fellowship from Ohio Arts Council
Portfolios:
Portraits
Concentrating on the most emotive element of any individual – the face.
Figurative
Explorations of the male form.
Architectura
The spaces and objects that man builds are massive testaments to his creativity. Designated to symbolize power and control, to honor history or even to contain the elements of human progress – they present an ever changing palette of visual interest and offer backdrop for further creative exploration. Even spaces long abandoned bear out that curiosity.
Constructions
Divided into two categories –
Alger Boxes:
Holding a mirror up to gay lifestyle with turn-of-the-century boys books dictating the theme. It was Horatio Alger, notorious for the craze in boys books of the early 1900’s, who helped establish the notion of the “American Dream”. Having titles that easily transform into messages of double entendre, these book covers are combined with photographs, objects and ephemera within a shadowbox.
Basic Constructions:
Freestyle combinations of collaged objects with photographs taken to illustrate. These three-dimensional pieces are unrestrained singular experiments meant to playfully interact to portray narratives of multi-leveled interpretation.