East Gallery
Thomas Stotts
At Home and Away
May 2 thru July 1, 2005
Whether
the sun is warming our faces or a quiet summer rain is dampening our
souls, the wondrous beauty in our world demands a grand audience. Thomas
Stotts has not only captured the images of our magnificent nation,
but he has also traveled across vast oceans to capture the mystery
of nature and the structures that man has placed upon her. While viewing
At Home and Away, we can embark on a journey and view the world through
the eyes of an astonishing artist.
While visiting the Museum d’Orsay in Paris, Stotts studied the masters of Impressionism, including Claude Monet, Pierre Auguste Renoir, and Camille Pissarro. Like the Impressionists of long ago, Stotts focuses on the ephemeral effects of color and light that yield an objective account of visual reality. His medium consists of acrylic on canvas, oil on canvas, and watercolor on paper, in which all three require different technical approaches. In some works, primarily landscapes, Stotts uses brushes to scrub and dust layers of paint on his canvases to create a distant atmospheric quality. In others, he uses palette knife to achieve a heavier impasto, which allows him to use texture to carve architectural images of cottages and pueblos. He also enjoys the unpredictable fluid subtleties that occur with watercolors in a range of subjects.
Stotts, an Oklahoma native, has been painting for 45 years and attributes
his talent to observation and inspiration from other artists. In 1977,
he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in commercial art from the
University of Central Oklahoma, where professors invited numerous professional
artists to visit classrooms and demonstrate cutting edge techniques
teaching him the fundamentals. Since those formative college days,
Stotts’main source of education has been his travels and he considers
one trip to the galleries of Santa Fe the genesis of his professional
development.“That’s when I started to grow as an artist.
There, I learned the rules and then, how to break them.”
Stotts said the purpose of his work is that he “wants viewers
and collectors to be tugged at their souls to go and visit the places
I have seen or to enjoy my work as a warm reminder of where they have
been.” At Home and Away carries the audience alongside Stotts
as he explores the countryside of England, pausing at tiny villages
just long enough to borrow a bit of their pure existence and apply
it to his canvas where it will forever stay. Stotts’ solo exhibits
include galleries in Oklahoma and New Mexico as well as several group
exhibitions across the country. When pondering the future, Stotts stated, “I
can’t paint fast enough and feel as if I have several thousand
paintings left in me. Please enjoy my art. Please enjoy all art.”
Stotts work can also be seen at the JRB Art at the Elms Gallery in Oklahoma City, 405.521.6336 www.jrbgallery.com.
Sponsored by the Oklahoma Arts Council. For more information contact Scott Cowan or Karen Sharp at 405.521.2931 or scott@arts.ok.gov