Dave Thomas- Time Line Paintings

For Immediate Release:

Dave Thomas: Time Line Paintings

Exhibition Runs from November 29- December 22

Artist Reception December 2, 2011 6-9pm

House Gallery is pleased to present Time Line Paintings, an exhibition of new work by Idaho-based artist Dave Thomas. The exhibition features a series of mixed-media abstractions that straddle the line between control and spontaneous expression. It opens on November 29 and continues through December 22. An artist’s reception will run from 6-9 PM on December 2, 2011.

Thomas paints with layers of spray paint, latex house paint and even black tar, letting his materials build up, spill over and congeal into seemingly compete shapes. The amorphous bodies that appear in his paintings are divided into sections, each filled with their own, singular patterns. Sometimes, a cocoon-like, red-bordered body will be divided into nine rectangles that together feel like a free-form lesson in modern art history: a Motherwell inspires square, above one reminiscent of Barnett Newman and below one reminiscent of Robert Ryman, and another that recalls Yayoi Kusama. Or a tapered rectangle might be divided into eight parts and pulled together by Pollock-worthy splatter or drips that seep down from one part to another.

Though Thomas, recently featured in a two-person exhibition at the College of Idaho’s Rosenthal Gallery, is interested in the passing of time, his free-spirited approach to history and his riffs on previous eras, artists and movements make time feel flexible and opened ended.

Thomas received his B.F.A. and M.F.A. from California Institute of the Arts, in 1973 and 1974. In addition to the Rosenthal Gallery show, he has most recently exhibited at OK Hotel Gallery in Seattle, Galerie Belle Ame in Eagle Idaho, and West L.A. City College. Time Line Paintings is the artist’s first exhibition at House Gallery.