Curves, bends, flyovers and chicanes: Blair Thurman’s constructions immediately
conjure up the zip and vim of Formula One racetracks. Many of the Louisianaborn, fiftysomething artist’s works are hybrids that see him applying acrylic paint to canvas on carved wood; they look like wall-mounted sculptures. Some of these are pulled into groovy shapes that hint at 1960s (P)optimism: stretched ovals, beanlike, as with Bacardi Circuit (2018), whose central bat logo refers to the critter on the label of the famous Cuban rum bottle. The twists of Crazy 8 (2018) summon aerial images of the great circuits – Monza, Spa, Silverstone. The shape of the black painted numeral here equally recalls the plastic Scalextric sets of childhood, while the Lotus green and white Thurman deploys makes one nostalgic for the deadly daring of a Jim Clark and the iconic colours of his racer.
