Crow’s Shadow will be hosting artist Storm Tharp for a two-week printmaking residency, Sept. 19-30, 2011.
A lifelong Oregon resident currently living and working in Portland, Tharp has generated international attention for his work, with exhibitions and gallery representation in New York and Geneva, Switzerland. A selection of Tharp’s paintings recently was included in the 2010 Whitney Biennial, a high-profile exhibition of American contemporary artwork, often highlighting young and emerging artists. That show is put on once every two years by the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City.
A practitioner of several media—including ink and gouache painting, sculpture installation and clothing design—much of Tharp’s work explores themes of character and identity. Some of his acclaimed portraits—often a stylistic mixture of blotted ink and sharply defined contours—exhibit a delicate balance of realistic and abstract expression.
For his residency at Crow’s Shadow, Tharp will work with Tamarind Master Printer Frank Janzen to create an original body of lithographic prints.
“I have been so busy over the past few years—I must admit, I’m most looking forward to the tranquility,” Tharp wrote via e-mail. “The remote aspect of the residency is very appealing to me. I find that I am inundated with responsibilities and chores in my daily life that can compromise the creative effort. I am really looking forward to the dedicated time I will assert towards the work and give credence to what is on my mind—in the greater scheme of things.”
When asked about possible ideas for his new work, Tharp indicated he was perhaps ready for a change of direction.
“I am antsy to begin a kind of revolution in my work; a readjustment or reinvention, if you will. I feel slightly unprepared regarding my arrival to the institute. I don’t have an idea of what I want to create—but I know that I want a big surprise. A new realm if I’m lucky,” Tharp wrote. “I have never worked in lithography before. I wonder what it will bring? I have a minor and very unformed inclination to express a painterly, almost calligraphic abstraction. Lots of pink and corals . . . but who knows? I might not land as far from myself as I think I will. Or as far as I want to rather. But that’s all right.”
Whatever will be the result, Crow’s Shadow looks forward to welcoming Tharp early next week.
Tharp’s residency will be funded, in part, through a generous grant project from The Ford Family Foundation. The project is intended to support both Oregon nonprofit residency programs and mid-career Oregon visual artists.
Tharp is represented in Portland by PDX Contemporary Art.