Lucas T. McMahon
Region: West
City / State: Denver, CO
In these paintings, I explore the limits of logic, knowledge, and
understanding. The work deals with concepts of nothingness and
infinity. I am interested in paradox and contradiction, as well as
the overlap between the two.
In my paintings, I subvert the conventional roles of various
elements by changing their material construction or traditional
relationships with other elements. In this way, each work becomes
a self-contradictory object that behaves like a Buddhist koan—a
paradoxical statement or question that promotes enlightenment
by demonstrating the insufficiency of pure logic and reason. The
frames act as a stage for infinite contemplation and meditation.
For me, the frames are also a metaphor for the body,
consciousness, or the universe. The blank and empty spaces
are representative of what we can know as well as what we do
not and may never know.