“Cardiac Depression” by Lukas Carlson

Lukas Carlson is a painter who is currently pursuing an MFA at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. His work primarily studies the figure through melancholy in the mediums of drawing and painting. He received a BFA in Illustration from UW-Eau Claire in 2017. 

“Cardiac Depression” (2020), 20” x 24,” Digital painting • “Beauty comes in many guises but, for me, it is in our ability to express pain where beauty becomes most potent. Our ability to filter our emotions is most delicate during these moments of melancholia. I am attracted to the honesty that sadness holds. However small, sadness is always there. Whether it is through the illustration of the figure or physical movement, I investigate solitude in my paintings. Part of me feels as though we live our lives alone, together; never revealing ourselves completely. Solitude breaks the pose and offers impartial expressions that I strive to capture. I am passionate about viewing our isolated form and its contradictions to our appearance.”