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Michael Tole
The Javelin Thrower

2024

About the Item

Michael Tole says of his work… In the sports related paintings in this show, all metrics for success--goal posts, yard lines, and end zones--have been removed. There is only endless, infinite space, placing all emphasis on the aesthetics of the bodies and their actions. Also, the style is unmistakably Rococo, which has been coded as feminine, decorative, and frivolous by art historians, and which is a style appropriated by many contemporary women entertainers in their music videos. Therefore, these pieces challenge the gender demarcations within our entertainment sector, and ideas of achievement, excellence, and what is or is not serious. The Javelin Thrower is a further exploration of sport and spectacle in the spirit of Fantasy football, and an attempt at reflecting varied body types within athletics. ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯ MICHAEL TOLE is a figurative painter currently living in Orlando, Florida with his wife and two daughters. Born in 1979 in Dallas, Texas, he graduated from UT Austin with a BFA in painting in 2000. A year later, he became the youngest artist ever represented by Dallas’ Conduit Gallery where he showed for 15 years. For the first half of his career, he created photo-based paintings of retail interiors that explored issues of class and the relationship of painting and photography. After relocating to Tempe, AZ his work experienced a significant shift to fantastical figurative inventions based on pop culture imagery he has encountered via his two daughters’ taste in music videos, as well as his proximity to the twin capitals of America’s fantasy industrial complex: Hollywood and Las Vegas. This work attempts to contextualize their brand of Disney-esque hedonism within a broader historical view of Western visual culture. As fate would have it, he relocated in the summer of 2024 to Orlando, another node of America’s fantasy industrial complex. Tole’s work has been exhibited nation-wide, in New York, Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas, and New Orleans. He has won several grants, including the $50,000 Hunting Art Prize, and the Kimbrough Grant. His work has been reviewed in Art Forum International, San Francisco Chronicle, Dallas Morning News.
  • Creator:
    Michael Tole (American)
  • Creation Year:
    2024
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 24 in (60.96 cm)Width: 18 in (45.72 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Framing:
    Framing Options Available
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    New Orleans, LA
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU105215543372

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