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Colleen Plumb
(b.1970; resides Chicago, IL)
Pigs, 2003
Fair Goose, 2003
Laundromat, 2004
This work focuses on the relationship humans have with animals and plants, how we coexist with the natural world, and the disappearance of it within the urban space. - Colleen Plumb
An interest in how people interact with and relate to the natural world drives Colleen Plumb’s on-going series Urban Nature. Yet while the early pictures in her series focused on the replication of fauna in urban spaces (whales painted on billboards, rabbit figurines positioned at the edge of parking lots), her latest work (dogs pulling their leashes taut, slaughtered ducks hanging in windows) shifts away from representations of animals and toward a depiction of actual creatures somehow processed or possessed.
Plumb received a BFA in visual communication from Northern Illinois University, DeKalb (1992) and an MFA in photography from Columbia College Chicago (1999), where she has taught since 2000. Recent Chicago exhibitions include The Chicago Project at Catherine Edelman Gallery, Frozen in Light at Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, and Chicago Land/Space/Place at Glass Curtain Gallery.
- Kendra Greene
PAST PORTFOLIO
K-Mart Whale Mural, 2000
Rubens’ Dogs, 2000
Mobil Station, 2001
In Colleen Plumb’s work, she examines the relationship between humans and nature, using the juxtaposition of “real” and “simulated” nature to make her point. Questioning levels of authenticity, Plumb’s photographs examine the artifice in contemporary urban life, seeking a deeper understanding of our relationships to the natural world.
Plumb earned her MFA from Columbia College Chicago (1999), where she currently teaches part-time. She holds a BFA in Visual Communication from Northern Illinois University, DeKalb (1992), and works in graphic design, as well. Her recent photography exhibitions include the Renaissance Society 2003 Benefit, University of Chicago; The Glass Curtain Gallery; ARC Gallery, Chicago; and The Chicago Cultural Center CITY 2000 exhibit You Are Here.