On Feb. 6, The Art Base in Basalt debuted its current exhibition, “Creative Destruction,” featuring a collaboration between Carbondale artists Michael Stout and Lindsay Jones working under a shared pseudonym: Also Known As. During the artist talk on Feb. 7, Stout and Jones discussed their respective processes for pieces in the mixed-media show with a full house of inquisitive art lovers in attendance.
The show primarily features screenprints and collages, including a few by Stout incorporating ash and soil collected in the aftermath of a local fire. The artwork touches on several themes: climate change, the power of a dollar bill, the current political climate.
“In general, the show revolves around cataclysms — these creative and destructive acts and how they influence us personally. Michael and Lindsay bring a lot of their personal imagery as artists into this exhibition,” Mike de la Rosa, gallery manager at The Art Base, told The Sopris Sun.
He continued, “The traces that both artists collected — personal photographs Lindsay took of the fires, and the ash and soil that Michael collected himself — all these elements are directly connected to their personal experience. I think that’s an entry point for the community, just thinking about how we process these things, but it’s interconnected. There is an economic, political, social and ideological connotation to these things. They don’t come out of nowhere, and there’s such a web that these things extend into.”
Stout, who is well known within the arts community of the Roaring Fork Valley as community engagement director for Carbondale Arts, shared a bit more on how the show came to be.
“When we started crafting the show, we stumbled upon the phrase ‘creative destruction,’ which is a term that comes from a Marxist critique of capitalism,” Stout said. “With this, we began looking at what was happening around us and processing the personal challenges we’d been facing with the fires. It started with wildfire, but it evolved into much more. Everything from geologic time scales and natural processes to social and political upset, unrest, and personal and domestic events.”
His comments were echoed by Jones, who shared how her use of “chaotic” textures became a staple in her own artistic vocabulary. This sentiment can be seen clearly in her piece titled “Power of the Purse.”
“It’s an image of flowers, and it says, ‘Your wallet is your weapon.’ It portrays how, in a capitalist system, your dollar is like your vote. Another piece of mine, ‘The Big Beautiful Burn: End of an Empire,’ which was made from wildfire photos I took of the Glenwood [Grizzly Creek] fire, was created with the image of destruction in our government. What’s happening with the government currently is very destructive. It begs the question of ‘When do we draw that line?’ Who’s happy with this destruction? Why is it so bad?” Jones shared.
Among gallery-goers on Feb. 7, Melanie Test expressed her interest in the works on display as rooted in her already being a fan of Jones and Stout’s graphic styles. Test shared how the work evoked surprise and delight in her as a viewer.
“I’m a graphic designer myself, so I feel drawn to the graphic representation of things,” she stated. “I love all of the texture that they put into their work with the different printmaking techniques, the layering, collaging, the way they mix media. It’s one of those surprise-and-delight experiences. The cool thing about art is that it’s not so much about causing people to feel something extremely specific, because it’s abstract and because it has the artist’s intentions and feelings in it, and it ignites your own perspectives and your own feelings as a viewer.”
“Creative Destruction” will remain on display through March 6, 2026. A special lunch with Stout and Jones will occur on Feb. 19 from noon to 1pm, offering a more intimate drop-in with the creatives. For more information, visit www.theartbase.org