Artwork copyright Jim Colbert. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2021.

Artwork copyright Jim Colbert. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2021.

Floating Island - The City Still Rises, 1994

Jim Colbert
American (born 1946, died 2007)

Location: Amistad Elementary, Kennewick

About the Artwork

Artist Jim Colbert painted Floating Island - The City Still Rises based on photographs he took while visiting Seattle in the fall. He juxtaposed neon reflections in the waterfront against the geometric forms of a downtown construction site. He combined these scenes into a uniquely shaped canvas featuring a "doughnut hole" cut from the center and a tilted square that appears suspended in front of the background. It is part of a series of paintings featuring this visual trick. He notes, "The water doughnuts are representations of a basically flat surface, and are painted in a broad, fairly abstract manner; whereas the 'islands' supported on top of the water are painted in a tighter style, and represent deeper spaces. The idea being that the spatial contradiction of this deep space in front of a shallow space asserts that the painting is not just a window onto a real scene, but is in fact only a flat surface."

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with Kennewick School District.

About the Artist

Realist painter Jim Colbert (1946-2007) intricately and expressively captured the landscape of the American West and explored the connection between man and nature. A native of Washington State, Colbert earned a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Washingon in Seattle. He earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Colorado in 1980, and was a longtime resident of Boulder.