Issue link: http://maconmagazine.uberflip.com/i/1184230
1 0 6 M A C O N M A G A Z I N E . C O M A P R I L / M AY 2 0 1 9 I f you're looking for a mundane still-life to adorn your living room wall, Charles Ladson may not be your cup of tea. If, however, you have a taste for art that leaves you asking and seeking – not answering and finding – Ladson's ambiguous, non-objective paintings are sure to catch your eye. A Macon resident, Ladson has garnered national attention for his work, and said he attempts to create art "that leaves more questions than answers." A master in oils, Ladson described his style as "falling into a generalist objective camp, with spaces that are warped or twisted in some way." He decries having a specific narrative or commentary in his work, but does prefer that the contents of his paintings be "recognizable." And so they are – corners, floorboards, shoes, chairs, faucets, boxes, bags – all ordinary and recognizable forms. Yet, at the same time they are otherworldly – simultaneously concrete and ethereal. Pretty cool "stuff," which, interestingly, is one of his painting's titles. Born in Macon, Ladson attributed various local sources for his burgeoning artistic talent, most notably Wesleyan College, where he attended art classes growing up, heard lectures from visiting professors and now teaches adjunct drawing classes. He also fondly recalled visiting the Museum of Arts and Sciences as a boy, and being inspired by its Midsummer Macon classes. "As a child growing up here, I had a general interest in drawing, and my teachers and peers encouraged me. Off and on through elementary and high school, I would dabble in paint, and my parents maybe saw that I had a little interest. I took some lessons, but never anticipated it would be a career for me," he said. After graduating from Stratford Academy, Ladson attended the College of Charleston, where he found himself increasingly disenchanted with the liberal arts education. He quickly realized that he wanted to paint, so he enrolled in the Savannah satellite campus of e School of Visual Arts, and eventually transferred to the school's New York campus, where he completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1999. e young artist stayed in Charles Ladson's paintings evoke questions, mysteries and make us a little uncomfortable BY RACHAEL PIGG-WISNER PHOTOS BY MATT ODOM Ordinar y and ext raordinar y