Esmé Thompson - Recent Paintings

The Bowery Gallery announces the opening of an exhibition of Thompson’s new paintings. The exhibition will run from May 21 – June 15, 2019.

There will be an opening reception on Thursday, May 23 from 5:00-8:00 pm and a closing salon on Saturday June 15 from 3:00-5:00 pm. In Esmé Thompson’s paintings and
multi-panel wall reliefs the use of color and pattern create a dynamic and engaging viewing experience. Colorful and bold, the paintings attest to a lifelong interest in decorative designs as diverse as those found in Islamic textiles and ceramic tiles to those of medieval paintings and illuminated manuscripts.

The current exhibition showcases an 84-panel wall piece, Beatus of Arnhem, reflecting Thompson’s time in Australia. Also included are many canvases, painted metal relief pieces and embroideries. Thompson investigates the creative intersections of many influences, forming alchemies of design, pattern, and color. She has fashioned a visual vocabulary that is distinctly her own, imbuing each painting with a woven language of symbols amid repeated articulations of line and color.

Thompson says, “I seek to make paintings that blur the boundaries between high and low art and celebrate the work people have made throughout time and across cultures. My work represents possibility and embodies change. The repeated, interrelated images are meant to allow for a cyclical and cumulative, rather than a linear, reading. The experience of viewing the painting becomes a journey that continues to unfold, reminiscent of an ongoing pattern of organic growth.”

Thompson’s travels inform and enliven her art. She has been a resident of the Rockefeller Foundation and the Bogliasco Foundation in Italy studying medieval painting and decorative arts. She has travelled to Morocco to study ceramic and fiber art and to Ireland to study Celtic manuscripts and lacemaking. Most recently her travels have taken her to Australia to explore aboriginal art in Kakadu and Uluru. Thompson lives in New Hampshire and is Professor of Studio Art at Dartmouth College.
 

Opening Reception: 5-8 PM, Thursday, May 23, 2019
Closing Salon: 3-5 PM Saturday, June 15, 2019

The Bowery Gallery is open Tuesday-Saturday, 11-6. 530 W25 St., 4th Floor, New York, NY. For further information or digital reproductions contact
Esmé Thompson, 603-398-7588, esme.thompson@dartmouth.edu or visit www.esmethompsonart.com