Exposition Proposal

The  Tim Thomas Gallery is proposing a solo gallery exhibition of 25 large,  fine art Tango images.  The photographs are sized at 30"x40"  (76cm x 103cm), dry mounted onto masonite,  under glass, and wrapped in artist painted frames.   Tim Thomas employs the photographs as a robust metaphor observing a symphony of opposites coherently moving in unison.  The fevered responses of so many people through-out the world to Tango, indicate the presence of a deep mystery worthy of contemplation in a dedicated gallery setting that plumbs the depths of body language spoken in the dance.

Male verses female, light verses shadow, submission verses dominance, broken verses whole, soft verses hard, and separation verses union, etc.. Each visually demonstrated component provides context and meaning for the counterpart.  Pain is fully understood in the context of relief. Shadows are impossible without light; and joy is fully experienced by one who has known grief.

This exhibition observes polarities, recognizes the necessity of them, and makes sense of them in real to life constructs of human relationship.  In sum, it is a matter of observing, respecting, naming, and embracing these opposing forces, and employing the resultant energies in a balanced fashion to propel us poetically across the dance floor of our lives.

The foundation of my work is based upon inquiries that trouble, and delight the heart. A lingering question of the heart, drives one to drink, dance, write, paint, or start a war. We are surrounded by beauty and treachery, joy and sorrow, dreams fulfilled, and dreams destroyed. We see love and hatred, companionship and loneliness. We see the wealthy raise their glasses while the destitute choke on a crust of bread. We make sense of these things in different ways.  Some are not successful in making sense of life’s opposing forces in any fashion, and become victims mired in an incessant cycle of pain in their lives.  Or, they unwittingly participate in the cycle of pain in someone else’s life.  

As an artist, I am certain this exhibition of my work will delight and inform viewers on two levels.  Firstly, the works will be encountered evocatively at the physical level of sight.  My relentless photographic study of light and movement over the past ten years,  has captured the fiery passion that animates tango’s dynamic human architecture in motion. Geometric human lines have been methodically drawn, and presented in a visible symphony of light, shadow and perspective.

If the first level of encounter is sight, the second level of encounter will be at the level of in-sight, a higher place of seeing in the mind, those things in the realm that transcend our dense physical existence.  Each image is designed to touch places in the emotional body that are unseen, rarely understood, but nonetheless, poignantly felt.

Visitors of the gallery exhibition will enjoy tango ballads in elegant surround-sound, with mood lighting reflective of an Argentinian Tango bar, while interacting with the images that will be subtly spot-lighted.  Adjacent to the exhibition room, an HD home cinema ambience projecting a brilliantly sequenced music and photography video, created by Tim Thomas, onto an over sized 7 foot by 10 foot screen in Bose surround sound.

The combined music and image media will penetrate the sub terrain mind of gallery visitors.  The melancholic mourning of the bandoneon, played by the old man in the shadows, who has seen and forgotten more than we will ever know, foreshadows the drama of life as it will be enacted by intermingling bodies written photographically in light on canvas. The orchestra’s pulsating tempos, staccato, and syncopation, puncutate a movement reflective of intense passion, attraction, dismissal, anger, heartbreak, and reunion. The crescendo of innuendo, in a swelling surge of soaring music, lyricism, and skillfully orchestrated movement of dancers, is a knife of fire that slashes the subconscious gate keeper, and tantalizes primal memories, urges, longings, and fears.

This exhibition vigorously explores archetypal energies inhabiting body language, and seeks to awaken awareness to the stark reality and staggering influence these energies exert upon us daily.  Tim Thomas' stunning images serve as a unique portal through which the complex geometries of opposing energies in relationship can be examined in one’s personal life.

The full exhibition will be available for tour throughout the world, beginning in October 2012.  Inquiries are welcome regarding exhibition tour schedule, contractual arrangements, and fees.