Blair Thurman
14/11/2015–19/12/2015
Peres Projects
Blair Thurman
14/11/2015–19/12/2015
Peres Projects
Blair Thurman
Green Party, 2015
Sculpture - Acrylic on wood with neon
197 x 133.5 x 22.5 cm (77.56 x 52.56 x 8.86 in)
Blair Thurman
Haida Way (Claw the Bear of Bad News), 2015
Painting - Acrylic on canvas on wood
127 x 91 x 8 cm (50 x 35.83 x 3.15 in)
Blair Thurman
Pink Sands (Beautiful Dollar), 2015
Painting - Acrylic on canvas on wood
154 x 154 x 10.2 cm (60.63 x 60.63 x 4.02 in)
Blair Thurman
Pink Sands (Beautiful Dollar), 2015
Painting - Acrylic on canvas on wood
154 x 154 x 10.2 cm (60.63 x 60.63 x 4.02 in)
Blair Thurman
Method Artist (Road Runner), 2015
Painting - Acrylic on canvas on wood
151.5 x 70 x 9.2 cm (59.65 x 27.56 x 3.62 in)
BT13247
Blair Thurman
Method Artist (Road Runner), 2015
Painting - Acrylic on canvas on wood
151.5 x 70 x 9.2 cm (59.65 x 27.56 x 3.62 in)
BT13247
Blair Thurman
MIG ALLEE, 2011
Painting - Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions variable
BT13252
Blair Thurman
Gringo (FMH), 2015
Painting - Acrylic on canvas on wood
178 x 111 x 24.5 cm (70.08 x 43.7 x 9.65 in)
Blair Thurman
Gringo (FMH), 2015
Painting - Acrylic on canvas on wood
178 x 111 x 24.5 cm (70.08 x 43.7 x 9.65 in)
Blair Thurman
Ticonderoga (Pencil Me In), 2015
Painting - Acrylic on canvas on wood
173 x 116 x 5.4 cm (68.11 x 45.67 x 2.13 in)
Blair Thurman
Ticonderoga (Pencil Me In), 2015
Painting - Acrylic on canvas on wood
173 x 116 x 5.4 cm (68.11 x 45.67 x 2.13 in)
Blair Thurman
Ten Fucking Years (Zahnfleisch), 2012
Painting - Acrylic on canvas on wood
152.5 x 186.5 x 15.2 cm (60.04 x 73.43 x 5.98 in)
Blair Thurman
Ten Fucking Years (Zahnfleisch), 2012
Painting - Acrylic on canvas on wood
152.5 x 186.5 x 15.2 cm (60.04 x 73.43 x 5.98 in)
Blair Thurman
Bob Fosse Forever (Step Klass), 2015
Painting - Neon and acrylic on canvas on wood
114.6 x 114.3 x 12.7 cm (45.12 x 45 x 5 in)
Blair Thurman
Haydn's Haida Way for Bill Reid (Haida Way), 2009-2015
Painting - Acrylic on canvas on wood
156 x 133.5 x 8 cm (61.42 x 52.56 x 3.15 in)
Blair Thurman
Haydn's Haida Way for Bill Reid (Haida Way), 2009-2015
Painting - Acrylic on canvas on wood
156 x 133.5 x 8 cm (61.42 x 52.56 x 3.15 in)
Blair Thurman
Waffle House In The Time of Nick, 2015
Painting - Acrylic and neon on canvas on wood
115 x 116 x 12.7 cm (45.28 x 45.67 x 5 in)
Blair Thurman
Peaches Kick It Feet, 2015
Painting - Acrylic on canvas on wood
237.5 x 51.5 x 15.2 cm (93.5 x 20.28 x 5.98 in)
Blair Thurman
Peaches Kick It Feet, 2015
Painting - Acrylic on canvas on wood
237.5 x 51.5 x 15.2 cm (93.5 x 20.28 x 5.98 in)
Blair Thurman
Nine Gates, 2015
Painting - Acrylic on canvas on wood
178 x 111 x 21 cm (70.08 x 43.7 x 8.27 in)
Blair Thurman
Nine Gates, 2015
Painting - Acrylic on canvas on wood
178 x 111 x 21 cm (70.08 x 43.7 x 8.27 in)
Blair Thurman
Black is the Old Black, 2015
Painting - Acrylic on canvas on wood
217 x 118.5 x 6.4 cm (85.43 x 46.65 x 2.52 in)
Blair Thurman
Black is the Old Black, 2015
Painting - Acrylic on canvas on wood
217 x 118.5 x 6.4 cm (85.43 x 46.65 x 2.52 in)
Blair Thurman
Pushin' Up Daisies From a Pine Box (SO ZUNÍ), 2008-2015
Painting - Acrylic and neon on canvas on wood
215 x 173 x 17.8 cm (84.65 x 68.11 x 7.01 in)
Blair Thurman
Pencil Me In, 2015
Painting - Acrylic on canvas on wood
136 x 119.5 x 6.4 cm (53.54 x 47.05 x 2.52 in)
Blair Thurman
Pencil Me In, 2015
Painting - Acrylic on canvas on wood
136 x 119.5 x 6.4 cm (53.54 x 47.05 x 2.52 in)
Blair Thurman
The Killer Elite, 2015
Painting - Acrylic on canvas on wood
173.5 x 116.5 x 5.1 cm (68.31 x 45.87 x 2.01 in)
Blair Thurman
The Killer Elite, 2015
Painting - Acrylic on canvas on wood
173.5 x 116.5 x 5.1 cm (68.31 x 45.87 x 2.01 in)
Blair Thurman
Gaslight, 2015
Sculpture - Acrylic on canvas on wood with neon
195 x 133 x 22.5 cm (76.77 x 52.36 x 8.86 in)
14 November – 19 December, 2015
Opening November 14, 2016, 6-8PM
Peres Projects is pleased to announce its first solo exhibition with American artist Blair Thurman (b.1961, US). On view at the gallery are Thurman’s recent paintings and neon sculptures. Thurman’s practice connects diverse cultural and symbolic facets of Americana with Pop Art and abstract geometric art of the 50s and 60s.
Drawing on influences such as his passionate collecting of model cars and other personal imagery, Thurman’s shaped canvases exist on the periphery of both painting and sculpture simultaneously. As abstractions of found forms, his works conjure both the circuit and the winding road through their smooth inner curves and edges. As cutouts, Thurman’s paintings incorporate the surrounding wall, bringing negative space into focus as a compositional element.
The neon works pose as inverted reliefs of the paintings as they cut similar edges and familiar tracks. Recalling historic associations of neon, from bar signage to Minimalist and Conceptual art, these glowing reliefs create new outlines, altering the dimensionality of painting itself through the electrical circuit. The circularity that pervades Thurman’s practice, referencing both Nietzsche’s idea of “eternal return” or a Möbius strip, elicits the infinite quality of these serializing compositions, which affirm and flow into themselves.
Though spanning different media and forms, Thurman’s serial works are readily recognizable as his own. His unique method of abstraction incorporates the handcrafted, replete with imperfections and improvisation, arriving at, in Thurman’s words, “signature-content”. Associations of speed, highway interchanges, and the glowing neon of mass media advertisements imbue Thurman’s compositions with kinetic energy and familiarity. However, ultimately, the content is neither Thurman’s distilled cultural signifiers nor abstracted motifs, it is rather his lifelong interest in excavating the potential in painting and sculpture.
“His method is gaze and memory rather than cold analysis,” wrote Thurman’s late friend, American artist Steve Parrino, “… like the free associations of a Beat poet on the road[…]”. A signature, something of a particular hand and created through repetition, is perhaps the most succinct metaphor for Thurman’s practice.
Peres Projects’s opening hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 11am – 6pm. For further information and sales inquiries, please contact Javier Peres (javier@peresprojects.com), Nick Koenigsknecht (nick@peresprojects.com) or call at +49 (0) 30 275 950770. For press and media inquiries, please contact media@peresprojects.com or +49 (0) 30 275950770.