TOM BIRKNER: RECENT PAINTINGS
AT PAUL THIEBAUD GALLERY, SAN FRANCISCO
San Francisco, California: The Paul Thiebaud Gallery is pleased to present the second solo exhibition of the work of New Jersey-based artist, Tom Birkner. Tom Birkner: Recent Paintings, featuring large-scale realist oil on canvas compositions, runs from June 13th through August 12th. The artist’s voyeurisitic paintings continue the exploration into the everyday lives of urban, middle-class America.
Birkner derives inspiration from a variety of sources, including gritty reality-based television series such as Cops. These shows exposing the seedier aspects of society often provide the initial material for the subject matter of his paintings. He also culls ideas from his own photographs of derelict or blighted urban areas in New York and New Jersey. The narratives emerge in the form of storyboards, or preparatory studies, assembled from the TV images, photographs, collage elements, and drawings. From there, he paints the final version.
His compositions offer discrete views of slices of life normally unseen, unnoticed, or avoided. Though the subjects are raw and the compositions sometimes jarring, the paintings are not imbued with an overarching sociological or political rhetoric. However, a mood is often conveyed through the deliberate and pervasive use of shades and tones of one color—frequently, blue, red, yellow, green, or gray—throughout the painting, causing the appearance of an overall wash.
The vignettes depicted never reveal complete stories. The “before” and “after” of the scene depicted are unknown and elemental in his work, adding to the unsettling aspects of the content. However, despite the subject matter, his work is oftentimes playful, humorous and ironic. Frequently, the titles of his work encourage such interpretation.
The artist received his M.F.A in Visual Art from Pennsylvania State University in 1997. He resides in Washington, New Jersey. He also serves as an Adjunct Lecturer of Art at Drew University.
Public Reception—Tuesday, June 13, from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm; open to the public.
