Akron Life September 2023

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be profound, passionate and elicit deep feelings on its own rather than be accompanied by extensive wall text instructing viewers how to feel. Carlson did this by record ing emotion anywhere he went, like a sad boy on a New York City subway he drew and later painted. “He was always mining the world for inspiration,” says Alexandra Nicholis Coon, executive director of Massillon Museum. The ultimate expression of grief comes with Carlson’s 7.6-by 7-foot “Nebraska” that stretches over multiple canvases and features oil sticks, newsprint, sticks and prairie grass from the Nebraska house where his son, Ryan, died and Wilkins’ photo of the house. There was a brilliant sunset, which provides a spec of light in the painting that’s a wash of black, blue and pink and show

cases a lone blade of prairie grass surviving through a cement crack. “He thought that was some kind of omen,” Wilkins says of the sunset. “He did feel that there was some closure.” As Carlson intended with the manifesto, Nicholis Coon says you will feel something when you see “Twilight Reeling.” “He was able to connect deeply with people and put himself in every painting,” she says. “The legacy he leaves is being able to translate human emotion on a sur face in a way that is so powerful.” 121 Lincoln Way E, Massillon, massillonmuseum.org // KP

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SEPTEMBER 2023 | akronlife.com