Maysey Craddock
EXPO CHICAGO ‘23
Recognized widely for her gouache paintings on stitched paper of ephemeral landscapes, Maysey Craddock examines growth and decay along the Gulf Coast. With conversations and evidence of climate change top of mind, Craddock’s conceptual works remind us of the shore’s beauty, as well as its fragile existence and ultimate disappearance. Beginning with photographic study, Craddock documents the inbetween spaces and transient moments in nature, specifically Alabama coastlines’ active ruin and reinvention.
remember the mountain, remember the sea, gouache and thread on found paper, 61.5x47.5”, 2020
Elegy at Dusk, gouache, flashe and thread on found paper, 28x36”, 2022
Though conceptually concerned with humankind’s destruction of the shore, Craddock’s formal interest lies in abstraction. She breaks down her photographs to their integral lines and color, paying special attention to the empty spaces. After parsing out the unnecessary elements, she uses gouache to layer intricate branches, reeds, grasses, and leaves onto sewn-together paper bags, creating visual explorations of these evolving, everchanging places. “It’s interesting to find/discover/see ways that the materiality and process of the works expand upon the ideas behind them. I like it when that happens,”
Craddock says.
waterskimmer, gouache, flashe and thread on found paper, 21x27.5”, 2023
Canary, gouache, flashe and thread on found paper, 48x62”, 2022
Maysey Craddock was born in 1971 in Memphis, where she currently livesaside from long stretches of time spent at a family home on the Alabama coast. She received an MFA from Maine College of Art, Portland, ME, and a BA in Sculpture and Anthropology from Tulane University in New Orleans.
Throughout her three-decade career, Craddock has participated in numerous solo exhibitions across the United States and Europe, and has been the recipient of several fellowship awards. Beyond David Lusk Gallery, Craddock is represented in Dallas, New York, and Los Angeles.
dream, drift to me, gouache, flashe and thread on found paper, 48x62”, 2022
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