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June Issue 2003
Piccolo Spoleto Exhibition Features Works by Christian Thee at the Dock Street Theatre in Charleston, SC
Modern American artist Christian Thee is the focus of a solo exhibition, A Brush with Deception, on exhibit at the Dock Street Theatre in Charleston, SC. The exhibition is being presented during the 2003 Piccolo Spoleto Festival and will be on view through June 8, 2003. More than two dozen of Thee's magical trompe l'oeil pieces will provide a glimpse of an astounding career from the 1980s to the present. Many of the works on display will be for sale.
A Dutch Treat 
Homage to Harnett
Thee paints trompe l'oeil, a French term, which literally translated means to fool the eye. "Wealthy Greeks and Romans had trompe l'oeil frescoes of landscapes and architectural fantasies painted on their walls," Thee explains. "According to legend, 2,000 years ago, an Athens artist produced a painting of grapes so realistic that birds flew down to peck them." Thee follows in this tradition, developing his own distinctive style of trompe l'oeil by combining the disciplines of architecture and professional stage design. His painting has a romantic touch, an intense attention to detail. Windows and long views are important to his work.
Raised in Columbia, SC, Thee became a set designer at Town Theatre during his teenage years. After graduating from the University of South Carolina, in Columbia, and post-graduate work at Columbia University, Thee stayed in New York to work as a scenic artist and designer for top-billed plays and operas. His four decades of creative experience runs from Broadway to London and back to South Carolina. Thee has long been affiliated with the Spoleto Festival. He designed the premiere poster, Monkey with Golden Eyes, as well as the backdrop for the Spoleto's chamber music at Dock Street Theatre.
Thee has worked on large scale projects like the 46 foot-long mural for Donald Trump's Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, to complete rooms such as The Orientation Gallery at the Columbia Museum of Art, to fanciful canvases that grace the homes of South Carolina art collectors. Thee, who draws heavily on his theatre background, likes to think of his residential work as, "scenery for the home." Both corporate and private clients are looking for more than art when they hire Christian Thee. They want the added dimension of intrigue, a conversation piece, a focal point, a little fun.
It is the goal of the trompe l'oeil artist to make the viewer do a double take, to question their perceptions. "I painted a broken strand of pearls on the dining room floor of one client's home," Thee laughs. "At her next party, all the women were grabbing their necks to see if they had lost their jewels."
Piccolo Spoleto is the official outreach arm of Spoleto Festival USA. Piccolo Spoleto Festival is funded in part by grants from the City of Charleston, the South Carolina Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts.
For more information check our SC Institutional Gallery listings or call the City of Charleston Office of Cultural Affairs at 843/724-7311.
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