JIM THOMPSON Available Works

).'82/+0'3+9-'22+8? JIM THOMPSON

Henry Geldzahler famously said of Andy Warhol’s work that “people have a longing to see the familiar codified in some way.” This is among the truest things uttered about how fine art works, in particular how Pop Art works. Pop established an inexhaustible image system from within which artists can draw new subject territory. It will never go away. Pop is constantly replenishing itself and reflecting the new, which is in stark contrast to the desper- ate, recursive exhaustion of formalist painting as it looks for fresh perspectives on canvas though gesture line and color.

Painting provides an intepretable and pleasurable visual structure that serves as a delivery vehicle for ideas. Painting for painting’s sake is for me an effete pleasure akin to wine tasting that owes its survival to the utility of art as decoration and the absence of footholds necessary to support legitimate intellectual inspec- tion. I recoil from the refrain “the work is about what painting can do” that so often attends discussion of con- temporary abstract work. While I acknowledge that one of the fundamental utilities of art is to afford viewers a peaceable remove from the world – a space for intellectual contemplation – I find art’s fundamental utility to be the illumination of life and of the world, and that meaning is no enemy to contemplation.

I did not study art in college or in graduate school. I did study literature, aesthetic theory, and literary the- ory in both. The only theory or definition of Art that I studied that could not be disproved in some way was the Institutional Theory (Dickey & Danto), a tautology that claims Art is what the Art World says it is, evidenced by Duchamp and Warhol, etc. My practice looks to objects, images and narratives that function in every way like art while remaining outside of what art is deemed to be solely as a result of their context. I champion miscegenation amongst design elements, entertainment, and art. I also embrace an Emotionalist (Tolstoy) position on art. Mov- ies, music and television have conditioned in me a heightened sensitivity to the evocative. I like to moved and to be communicated with. I have no reluctance in declaiming that this is chiefly what art is and has been for, at the end of the day.

I am fascinated by the indelibility of impressions formed during childhood and adolescence. It is my intention to excavate these most durable memories and document them through painting and sculpture, and to examine their re- contextualized form. My practice is therefore experimental in nature. The first series of images I have produced are the baseball card paintings, all taken from the year 1977, all from the card publisher Topps. The paintings intend to be faithful to the cards in both size and image, any changes to the look of the original cards are the result of happenstance or error. The selection of 1977 as the source year for the card paintings resulted from personal memory (1977 was the year I actually collected baseball cards) and excellence in graphic design, which contributed in no small way to the durability of the memories I suspect. The card paintings intend to be evoca- tive, and I suppose that creating a state of thoughtful reverie is their clearest intention. The card paintings surface ways in which male heroism is coded, and by virtue of their age they show the changing face of male hero- ism and male beauty. Like all pillars of memory, the card paintings summon not only the ‘then’ and its Proustian swirl of associations, but the gulf of time between the ‘then’ and the ‘now.’ They are about aging in a narrow authorial sense (my aging.) They are about value. They are about the men themselves, and their exploits. They are about what painting can do. JIM THOMPSON

Foxes Oil on canvas 30 x 22 x 4 inches 2014 JIM THOMPSON

Little Darlings Oil on canvas 30 x 22 x 4 inches 2014 JIM THOMPSON

Misty Beethoven Oil on canvas 30 x 22 x 4 inches 2014 JIM THOMPSON

Milles Bornes Oil and ink on canvas 3.75 x 2.75 inches 2013 JIM THOMPSON

100, 30 x 22 inches, Oil on Canvas. 2013 200, 30 x 22 inches, Oil on Canvas. 2013 JIM THOMPSON

Out of Gas, 30 x 22 inches, Oil on Canvas. Accident, 30 x 22 inches, Oil on Canvas. 2013 2013 JIM THOMPSON

Flat Tire, 30 x 22 inches, Oil on Canvas. Roll!, 30 x 22 inches, Oil on Canvas. 2013 2013 JIM THOMPSON

Puncture Proof, 30 x 22 inches, Oil on Driving Ace, 30 x 22 inches, Oil on Canvas. Canvas. 2013 2013 JIM THOMPSON

Right of Way, 30 x 22 inches, Oil on Canvas. Extra Tank, 30 x 22 inches, Oil on Canvas. 2013 2013 JIM THOMPSON

71 Ron Santo, Oil on canvas, 30 x 22 inches 71 , Oil on canvas, 30 x 22 2014. inches, 2014. JIM THOMPSON

71 Pete Rose, Oil on canvas, 30 x 22 inches 71 Reggie Jackson, Oil on canvas, 30 x 22 2014. inches 2014. JIM THOMPSON

71 Thurman Munson, Oil on canvas, 30 x 22 inches 2014. JIM THOMPSON

77 , oil 77 Rick Burleson, oil and ink on canvas, 3.75 and ink on canvas, 3.75 x 2.75 inches, 2013 x 2.75 inches, 2013

77 Darrell Porter, oil and ink on canvas, 3.75 x 77 , oil 77 Frank Tanana, oil and 2.75 inches, 2013 and ink on canvas, 3.75 ink on canvas, 3.75 x x 2.75 inches, 2013 2.75 inches, 2013 JIM THOMPSON

77 , oil 77 Al Bumbry, oil and ink 77 Lyman Bostock, oil and 77 Ron LeFlore, oil and and ink on canvas, 3.75 on canvas, 3.75 x 2.75 ink on canvas, 3.75 x ink on canvas, 3.75 x x 2.75 inches, 2013 inches, 2013 2.75 inches, 2013 2.75 inches, 2013

77 Garry Templeton, oil 77 Cesar Geronimo, oil 77 , oil and ink and ink on canvas, 3.75 x and ink on canvas, 3.75 on canvas, 3.75 x 2.75 2.75 inches, 2013 x 2.75 inches, 2013 inches, 2013 JIM THOMPSON

77 Dennis Lamp, oil and 77 , oil and ink on canvas, 3.75 x ink on canvas, 3.75 x 2.75 inches, 2013 2.75 inches, 2013

77 , oil and ink on canvas, 3.75 x 2.75 inches, 2013 77 , oil and 77 Rico Petrocelli, oil ink on canvas, 3.75 x and ink on canvas, 3.75 2.75 inches, 2013 x 2.75 inches, 2013 JIM THOMPSON

77 Butch Hobson, oil and 77 Don Money, oil and ink 77 Chet Lemon, oil and 77 Jamie Quirk, oil and ink on canvas, 3.75 x on canvas, 3.75 x 2.75 ink on canvas, 3.75 x ink on canvas, 3.75 x 2.75 inches, 2013 inches, 2013 2.75 inches, 2013 2.75 inches, 2013

77 Bump Wills, oil and 77 Steve Swisher, oil and 77 Bernie Carbo, oil and 77 Al Hrabosky, oil and ink on canvas, 3.75 x ink on canvas, 3.75 x ink on canvas, 3.75 x ink on canvas, 3.75 x 2.75 inches, 2013 2.75 inches, 2013 2.75 inches, 2013 2.75 inches, 2013 JIM THOMPSON

77 Roy Smalley, oil and 77 Joe Niekro, oil and ink on canvas, 3.75 x ink on canvas, 3.75 x 2.75 inches, 2013 2.75 inches, 2013

77 Pedro Borbon, oil and 77 Tony Perez, oil and ink on canvas, 3.75 x 2.75 77 Bill Lee, oil and ink ink on canvas, 3.75 x inches, 2013 on canvas, 3.75 x 2.75 2.75 inches, 2013 inches, 2013 JIM THOMPSON

77 J.R. Richard, oil and ink on canvas, 3.75 x 77 Glenn Burke, oil and ink on canvas, 3.75 x 2.75 2.75 inches, 2013 inches, 2013 JIM THOMPSON

77 Otis Sistrunk, oil 77 Bill Kilmer, oil and and ink on canvas, 3.75 ink on canvas, 3.75 x x 2.75 inches, 2013 2.75 inches, 2013

77 , oil and ink on canvas, 3.75 x 77 Billy Johnson, oil 77 , oil and 2.75 inches, 2013 and ink on canvas, 3.75 ink on canvas, 3.75 x x 2.75 inches, 2013 2.75 inches, 2013 JIM THOMPSON

77 Billy Joe Dupree, oil 77 Jim Zorn, oil and ink 77 Charlie Joiner, oil 77 , oil and ink and ink on canvas, 3.75 on canvas, 3.75 x 2.75 and ink on canvas, 3.75 on canvas, 3.75 x 2.75 x 2.75 inches, 2013 inches, 2013 x 2.75 inches, 2013 inches, 2013

77 , oil 77 Dan Fouts, oil and 77 Harold Carmichael, 77 Tony Galbreath, oil and ink on canvas, 3.75 ink on canvas, 3.75 x oil and ink on canvas, and ink on canvas, 3.75 x 2.75 inches, 2013 2.75 inches, 2013 3.75 x 2.75 inches, 2013 x 2.75 inches, 2013 JIM THOMPSON

77 Joe Ferguson, oil and ink on canvas, 3.75 x 77 Dan Pastorini, oil and ink on canvas, 3.75 x 2.75 inches, 2013 2.75 inches, 2013 JIM THOMPSON

77 , oil and 77 Darryl Stingley, oil ink on canvas, 3.75 x and ink on canvas, 3.75 2.75 inches, 2013 x 2.75 inches, 2013

77 Chuck Muncie, oil and 77 Jim Hart, oil and ink on canvas, 3.75 x 2.75 77 , oil and ink on canvas, 3.75 x inches, 2013 ink on canvas, 3.75 x 2.75 inches, 2013 2.75 inches, 2013 JIM THOMPSON

77 , oil 77 Vern Den Herder, oil 77 John Cappelletti, oil 77 , oil and ink on canvas, 3.75 and ink on canvas, 3.75 and ink on canvas, 3.75 and ink on canvas, 3.75 x 2.75 inches, 2013 x 2.75 inches, 2013 x 2.75 inches, 2013 x 2.75 inches, 2013

77 Dave Casper, oil and 77 Franco Harris, oil 77 , oil 77 Curley Culp, oil and ink on canvas, 3.75 x and ink on canvas, 3.75 and ink on canvas, 3.75 ink on canvas, 3.75 x 2.75 inches, 2013 x 2.75 inches, 2013 x 2.75 inches, 2013 2.75 inches, 2013 JIM THOMPSON

77 Jan Stenerud, oil and ink on canvas, 3.75 77 Butch Johnson, oil and ink on canvas, 3.75 x 2.75 inches, 2013 x 2.75 inches, 2013 JIM THOMPSON

77 , oil 77 Jack Ham, oil and ink 77 Fred Dryer, oil and 77 Steve Grogan, oil and and ink on canvas, 3.75 on canvas, 3.75 x 2.75 ink on canvas, 3.75 x ink on canvas, 3.75 x x 2.75 inches, 2013 inches, 2013 2.75 inches, 2013 2.75 inches, 2013

77 Harry Carson, oil and 77 Steve Largent, oil 77 , oil 77 Mike Webster, oil and ink on canvas, 3.75 x and ink on canvas, 3.75 and ink on canvas, 3.75 ink on canvas, 3.75 x 2.75 inches, 2013 x 2.75 inches, 2013 x 2.75 inches, 2013 2.75 inches, 2013 JIM THOMPSON

‘1977’ Installation at Charlie James Gallery, March 2013