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my name's Christopher Thomas I graduated from Beaver college then Bever College in
1994 with the degree
in painting which was my major and printmaking a minor so both those
all through my time here were
running parallel in hindsight especially now
the way that studying studio art
for me was most
beneficial I think you had a lot to do with that kinda
tight-knit community that there were
no handful of particularly excellent faculty
who on could work with with
and also the facilities were so
available conducive and I felt very strongly this balance between
having the space to work and encouragement to work
so that sense of
studio focus you know early on as a student was really in place through the
course work but then also the availability of particular the
the print shop in the painting studio for me but there is always this equal
portion to of
getting really familiar with
things happening in philadelphia going to museums and
on to serve a broader sense throughout history classes
on along with probably in Arcadia
you know obviously as a strong history of study abroad
opportunities which I was lucky enough to part take my junior year to go to the
Glasgow School of Art
so there was this really kind of terrific
know intense experience in this four years and being
you know very hard at work in studios but then also having these opportunities
to be moving outward at the same time in
as an artist how vital that was to be exposed to such good works
on and be able to practice painting in different environments in different
countries
for me working as a as a painter and printmaker always have overlapping to be
honest I I rarely
although I'm about to do some relief printing the next month or so but I
for a number of years as a painter primarily
I think printmaking has informed the way I make paintings I
mostly in terms of how on
anytime I approach making an image in the piece is the drawings that you're
talking about
in the Commons gallery on which is part of the
alumni exhibition that I have currently on
you know those are made with ink and watercolor on paper so they're all hand drawn
on paintings I suppose on paper
I'm but they really do have a kind have systematic application and I think to
the way that
those paintings in particular are coming from
photographic imagery know that really I think connects
to my senses a printmaker found image any kinda photographically reproduced
image can be
broken down and ever more bite-size
pieces you know the the drawings in that
exhibition across the way are primarily bit mapped photographs a very low res
images but a wave inspecting an image
or dissecting an image for me has always been somehow related to
printmaking where
you know for example with them in a multi plate
at sings or or even woodcuts you know that the notion of
dismantle an image into
layered information
i think has always been physically of interest to me in
that's translated into the paintings for sure for as long as I've
than painting really being invited to to an exhibition here especially
as an alarm you never really gave me pause to think about
not only 12 slacks
the body of work that I can hang
to exhibit but on ninety that I V invited here at the end to
give a talk about the work on to students and know the community
I'm especially given the fact that in so many my
former professors you know are going to be in attendance something I definitely
think about
that that sort of national any ads and
you thinking as a painter as well
maybe it comes to mind sitting in this painting studio I think one of the
earliest lessons
on I sorta subscribes to you is this notion have
you know becoming a painter as being a kind of a life long
and after that now to have trust and
means my people called masters reforms rain I was like to think about that you
have that sort have
built above experience that only lands Dept and more
arm as a certain understanding to the work that you make
your life and so certainly that's been on my mind coming here and the work is
hanging in the Commons gallery
is recent I mean it's you know it's within the last year and
in a really representative what's still
have cooking in the studio at the moment um
but I think the main connection and I hope to when I give the public
lecture with images later this afternoon
you know I I hope to draw a connection between
the work that I was making not way back not way back when I was a student
necessarily but
Navy just five years ago where they're still the kinder love on
I think we're really sticks from my time here at Arcadia you know the sort have
on investigation of how an image can be made where
particularly as a painter I've been I'm
you know for a long time invested in a kinda representational painting
particular a painting from observations are really trying to
translate by looking and and I *** nation in Kalamazoo I'm
translate a kind have and not totally objective experience s release or the
subjectively flavored experience
and and I think
as I mentioned a minute ago about printmaking the way that that
am that that and point to the image either
on either kind of comes to life
were becomes some might question
to the activity of making it and is something that's always persisted and so
for example when I was a
student here in I was making paintings
know by looking at things still lives in tears this kind of thing
and and the work now you know at a glance it's very abstract you know it's
sorta have
little fragments have digital the no
scrap across the page in your I think there's still a sense
the a sense of the sort of photographic
involved I think we can sorta see that
im the current paintings on
and so in a weird way I guess the connection I make to what's most recent
what I was doing in my start here is that notion as
how an image can be represented how an image can be
I'm very objectively understood by
studying its %uh for example no studying a still life with
you know particular lighting on trying to match what you're seeing on a
technical level
I'm just over the years has given way more to
you know questioning how an image can be
broken down through other means so whether it's through photographic
distancing or you know the images in that show are very
you know caveman style. software application I to simply kinda reduce the
the resolution of those images to kinda get at something up the
for developmental structure those photographs
so in a weird way you know that my paintings have changed
some were dramatically on the surface over the years but
I think conceptually on as a real
think there's a real its still a strong connection
between what I was doing here's a student to what I'm involved with now
thing for a long time I just question how much love my
maybe says my shortcomings as a painter perhaps but I was always aware of my
serve hand in the making of that image is being
really resident and and the system so maybe like a strange
an answer but on
it sort of dis the it's sort of disturbed me a little bit like I didn't
want
I was I think I was after images that were
I am compelling to look at images that were
the guy said rude in the sense of observation but I didn't wanna make
images that were sort of about my ability to either paying
like a tree really well you know me like
it just wasn't the sort of language that I really wanted to work in am
mean in fact and I really do much all the work that's in the Commons gallery
arm
are based on landscapes and
two-degree I mean images have compost piles and
no organic matter is what all those photographs are in so
on you have there still like a way I think
driving is a pain to get a little bit away
have the sort if technical obviousness every producing an image in more
using painting techniques and even printmaking techniques
and to take an image is recognizable and representation of something in
particular
on but that somehow reduce it me into that sorta more generic
language and I to be honest I think there's system
most economists I idea driven approach in these drawings that
no satisfies me too to some degree is a painter that I like the way that
the images can be
someone made outside of my own temperament it's not just about my
looking you know there's this sort of filtering going on between me
my selection in the image and the drawing through those
either the software the projection methods and I kinda thing I
now I'm not alone I think a lot of painters tend to work in response to
photographic imagery
you know nowadays minutes and obviously I'm
I you
it's a logical question to be you asking i think is a painter
and know the 21st century like how you
you choose subject matter how you make images right in an age
up images so for me was less about you maintain
straight up copying have with the thing looks like I'm trying to get at some
sort of
other way of representing I think the best
art students you know they they
are able to sir taken ownership of their education
and bring to the table or bring to the
studio on you know
themselves and you know their sense of self reflection their
interests a their interest in whatever that might be
you know it there stance on religion and politics &
no other hobbies like I do you think that there's a kind have on
first and foremost a recognition love
on you as a unique individual you know coming to
an art studio with a certain unique set of experiences and knowledge
on that I would trust and you know
certain your role becoming then as a student know the expert
in tapping into what you can offer to the conversation
on and so cancer whatever medium
one might choose to work and I do think that those
on that's our sense of self understanding is
you know gonna kinda cut to the chase and I think
technically any student spending so many hours a week doing drawings going to
improve it wrong
but I think that is sort of sense of engagement with on
through the deeper issues this on Pinterest that maybe you've
been compelled to return to over and over again I feel like there must be a
reason for that
and I always encourage seems to really too well I'm not a bit and really try to
formulate
those heartfelt concerns and what might become the subject matter for them as
artists in a way
no down the line I think that's the time we start really
knowing knowing that about yourself