Trenity Thomas

Alive in the Dark

2023

Edition 1 of 5 TRENITY THOMAS is a self-taught photographer who has also experimented with painting and sketching since grade school. As a photographer, he has worked in a myriad of...

edition 1/7 TRENITY THOMAS is a self-taught photographer who has also experimented with painting and sketching since grade school. As a photographer, he has worked in a myriad of ge...

Oil Portrait. The Silence is from the ingmar Bergman movie of the same title and the painting features Ingrid Thulin and Gunnel Lindblom. About the Artist: John Francis Gallagher is a Boston-based contemporary artist. Born in Drogheda, Ireland in the Boyne Valley, he emigrated to the United States at 19. John worked in graphic design, advertising and architectural rendering before turning his hand, full-time, to painting. A self-taught figurative artist, his work has a vintage style that is influenced by the so-called pulp artists of the 20th century. In his large-scale canvases, tone is given precedent to create realism. Working within a limited palette of tones, The paint is woven under, over, and into itself in layers to create a portrait that is seemingly simple but satisfyingly complex. The work has a strong quiet energy that creates space for itself in a frenetic, busy world by being the exact opposite. Often drawn from 1960s European Cinema...

-ARTIST STATEMENT- I depict my person in multiplicity with different selves representing dramatis personae. My likeness is both implicit and symbolic in the portrayal of my narrative; the drama involved in creating art and the artist’s role in society. I use realism to invite the viewer into mysterious inner worlds that are layered reflections of the outer. Dehumanizing environments are imbued with art historical references as a critique of power structures. The artist is an Everyman who is at odds with society and his self. Visually my work is a celebration of society’s dark undercurrents and its overlooked absurdities. I use charcoal and printmaking media as their tenebrous values add a fitting metaphor. The nuances of light and shadow seduce viewers into a world their better judgment would have them avoid. This provokes a sense of disquietude that causes viewers to assess our world through the austerity of a colorless, yet not humorless, light. -BIO- Christopher Ganz grew up in Northeast Ohio and from early on had a fertile imagination and an interest in art. Christopher's artistic education truly began at the University of Missouri, where his love of the human form led to many figure drawing classes and his exposure to the wonders of printmaking. Christopher's then went onto graduate school at Indiana University and a summer abroad program in Italy was a dream realized. Christopher then grasped charcoal with a renewed vigor and large, sfumato-laden drawings ensued. Christopher's artistic influences are many; from a seminal exposure to Dore's engravings of the Divine Comedy, to Rembrandt, Caravaggio, Goya, and up to Lucian Freud, Mark Tansey...