Continuing our brief series on the new and shiny members of the art community, we move from the chaotic to the highly structured, with recent Maryland Institute College of Art, MFA recipient Courtney Jordan.

Smitten with art and mostly self-taught, Jordan's paintings and ink drawings breathe new life into the architecture we've stopped seeing for all its designed beauty. Having grown up in New York, she's drawn to bridges and industrial creations. Irvine Contemporary was smart to grab a number of her layered Mylar drawings for its current show, Introductions 2, which you should drop what you're doing and go see before it closes this Saturday. Jordan took some time to answer our questions. You can find out more about the artist and her work on the web.

Did you ever formally study drafting or architecture?

No, but I am often asked that question. I taught myself to use basic drafting techniques and tools, and have closely studied the work of architects like Daniel Libeskind and Lebbeus Woods. Because I see architecture through the eyes of a painter rather than those of a trained architect, it frees me from the burdens of having to make safe, livable structures that could actually function in our day-to-day world. I am drawn to the aesthetics of our constructed world, more so than to the functionality of it. I often deconstruct architectecture into functionless components so I can pick and choose from the parts to create my own structures. These structures have no place in our real world.

Your bridge paintings seem to twist the everyday commuter view into something unique, but also take structures that might be considered art in themselves and turn them into new kinds of art. What would you say you're trying to do with these pieces?

I think that you are talking about two different periods of my work. The earlier period of work reflects a more traditional representation of New York City bridges (see View Through the Queensboro Bridge #5). These paintings are panoramic views through bridges that are meant to draw attention to what is often missed in our everyday “commuter” experience. With these paintings I am trying to show something that could easily be overlooked in our day to day lives: To make people stop and really look at their surroundings. We live in such an intensely designed world that much of it goes unnoticed. An average person might cross the Queensboro Bridge everyday on their way to work and appreciate its functionality or the view over the city, but not notice the beauty that exists in the structure itself, from the hexagonal nut on a girder bolt to the spacing between the bolts.

My newest work functions partly in the same way, but I’ve eliminated the very specific point of view that exists in the previous work. I wanted to get away from the idea that this painting is a scene or a snapshot of an exact location and time period. Rather, than experiencing the painting as a scene from or through a bridge or structure, the new work is about the structure itself and its own sense of object-hood (see Structural Anomaly, pictured).

Do you ever create your own architectural designs? Perhaps invent something?

The earlier work was heavily edited by both the computer and my own hand. I spent a lot of time manipulating my reference photos and sketches so I could achieve a painting that was seamless in its transitions of the shifting perspectives and scale. The new mylar work is more of my own invention and exploration of architecture to create my own invented structures. I am no longer tied to a specific setting or location, which allows me the freedom to construct more permutations and variations from multiple sources and inspirations. This allows me to construct a painting out of part of a bridge, part of an oil refinery, and the steel beams of a new library being built near my home. The resulting combinations often surprise me in how familiar they can look, while having no associated functionality at all.

Instead of seeking the "found geometry" that exists in man-made structures, have you ever sought out such patterns in nature?

Since I was a child, my work has always been about architecture. Throughout my undergrad at RISD I was an on-site landscape painter, my subjects were always construction sites, power plants and bridges. Very rarely would I work from a purely natural or rural environment.

Lately I find that I am becoming increasingly interested in the micro mathematical and geometrical world of nature; for instance, the ‘natural geometry’ found within the spiral of a snail shell or the center of a sunflower. This is a completely new area of exploration for me, but could easily become a new direction for me in the near future. With my newest mylar paintings, the structures I am creating seem almost anthropomorphic—or like they are the remains of some skeletal creature. While at a residency in Provincetown, MA, this summer I found myself photographing many small crabs that had washed up on shore. In my mind they had many similarities to my invented bridge structures.

How did you come up with the idea to use layers of Mylar?

It is an idea that was born out of the desire to remove myself from the specificity of my older work in gouache on paper. The multiple layers of mylar serve to obfuscate or sharpen the details of whatever layer I apply paint to. If I apply paint to the bottom layer it recedes, if I apply paint to the top layer it is in focus. This allows me to physically push and pull parts of the architectural object. It also allows me to explore other options for creating depth, aside from perspective and scale. Mylar is also a basic drafting material. It seemed natural to use the same materials as architects and draftsman when creating this work. That being said, I experimented with many different types of mylar and ink to find the type that best suited my work and working habits.

What else are you working on? What do you hope to explore next?

I recently returned from a two month residency at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, MA, and am now working on setting up a new studio at the Creative Alliance in Baltimore, where I also live. While in Provincetown, I had the opportunity to study printmaking and would love the opportunity to continue with it. I have a solo exhibition at the Hudson D. Walker gallery in Provincetown next May, so I will be working towards that goal this winter.

I want to continue my exploration of the relationship between art and architecture and pursue my own eccentric version of it. I also want to continue to experiment with printmaking and its possibilities within the real of my work.

Introductions 2 was my first show at Irvine Contemporary and was a very positive experience. I hope to continue a relationship with the gallery and show with them again in the near future.