October Issue 1999
Craven Allen Gallery in Durham, NC, Features Works by Thomas Minor
Meanwhile, in "another part of the forest ...." mixed media works on paper by Thomas Minor will continue through Oct. 23. at Craven Allen Gallery in Durham, NC.
As critic Paula Harper puts it, Minor's works "sting the eye and then the heart in an area of response somewhere between laughing and praying." The title of the show refers not only to the artist's culturally diverse home of Miami, which is often perceived as another world by the rest of America, but also to the extraordinary range and depth of his subject matter. The exhibition features over forty works, ranging from a witty look at the mysterious origin of cats, to disquieting scenes of modern urban and suburban culture. The humor is intentional. "the bait even," says Minor, "by which the viewer is enticed to linger, contemplate and meditate upon the image and its possible meanings." Not all is always as it first appears. In Tinker the protagonist's glide through a snowy wood is encumbered by the mysterious wooden appendage dragging behind him, while a body floating in a starkly geometric backyard pool (Floater) seems somehow poised between this world and the next. Minor says he wants to "leave enough unsaid to invite the viewer to fill in the blanks, become involved in the tale."
Minor renders his small scenes primarily in graphite, using strong strokes which give the surface a highly reflective quality, and leaving an impression in the fiber which renders an almost sculptural depth to the paper. Whites are heightened with gouache for even greater contrast. Economical and elegant in his approach, he pares each vignette down to its essential elements, rendering each story with concise and subtle detail.
Thomas received BFAs in both painting, and graphic design and illustration, from the University of Miami, where he is currently finishing his MFA in painting. Awards include Best in Show at the National Artspace Exhibition in Sacramento, CA and the Atwater Kent Award at the Exhibition of Contemporary American Artists in Palm Beach, FL.
Thomas Minor Artist's Statement
I see my work as little icons for the home, intermediaries between what is seen and what is only suspected, sensed or feared.
The work is kept small to draw in and engage the viewer in a "one-to-one" conversation. Conceptually the ideas are spare, even simple minded, so as not to dominate the discussion but rather leave enough unsaid to invite the viewer to fill in the blanks, become involved in the tale. There Is also an element of humor, which tends to be disarming, and is the avenue -- the bait even -- by which the viewer is enticed to linger, contemplate and meditate upon the image and its possible meanings.
The elements of the work are picked out in white gouache against
a graphite background. I apply the graphite very heavily to create
a
reflective surface, which both obscures and enriches the surface.
Consequently, the work is experienced as a series of views, just
as the ideas expressed are open to multiple interpretations and
levels of meaning, no one being optimal -- all intended to prolong
the encounter.
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