b. 1965, Toronto, Canada Growing up in Canada, painter Michael Childs nurtured a fascination with the ordinary buildings surrounding him. These days, he channels that visual information into his paintings, which feature utilitarian structures based on what he calls "bad, late-modern buildings." To make these works, Childs travels from his current home in Brooklyn, New York. to Canada three times a year- and other locals on occasion- to photograph buildings that catch his eye. Working from the photos, he makes drawings or "plans" that eventually become paintings. Though he begins with a photograph, Childs always alters a building's color and context, isolating each structure against a plain, oddly hued ground to heighten what he calls the "broken logic" of the work. "To me, broken logic means that my buildings sit in a space that doesn't make sense," he explains. This lack of logic, combined with visual tension, is intended to draw viewers in. "I imagine that viewers are engagued in trying to figure out exactly how it works," he says, "almost like a puzzle."