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Terry Thompson Still-life Paintings

American, b. 1963
For nearly twenty years, Thompson has focused primarily on painting old neon signs that have somehow avoided the wrecking ball - the signs that have lived and beat the odds.  These sculptural signs exist as historically and emotionally charged metaphors for the unrelenting passage of time.  In his paintings, Thompson seeks to to reveal the hidden beauty of these banal, rusty relics, by rendering them in paint.   Thompson finds his subjects while exploring the forgotten back streets of cities across the United States.  This act of discovery coupled with being in the physical presence of these signs, is crucial to his process.  Thompson is searching for the diamonds in the discarded materials of our heavily commercial culture - the hidden beauty in the mundane and often-overlooked.   Thompson is fascinated by packaging typography and graphics and has done a series of vintage food product paintings depicting TV dinners, soda and soup cans, cereal boxes, and candy wrappers.  The oversized and playful paintings of these products take the mundane and re-packages it for our contemporary eyes - objects that were used and thrown away take on a new power to evoke emotion and memory.    Thompson delves deep into the brilliant design aesthetic of the objects.  From a time before the current mass media advertising bombardment of the devices we all carry in our pockets, these iconic signs and packages were an essential forms of advertising - if the sign caught your eye, you’d remember it.  Instead of repetition as is the case now, designers had perhaps only one shot to make that statement.   Text is a common thread uniting both the sign and packaging paintings as is Thompson’s interest in capturing what is often considered purely functional and utilitarian by one era yet comes to mean more in the ensuing years.  These signs or product packages represent so much more with the passage of time - our youth and the ever present nostalgia for the perceived “simpler times” of the past.   Terry Thompson was born in 1963 in Mountain View, CA.  His initial studies were in industrial technology and he worked as an equipment engineer for various tech companies in Silicon Valley.  While the work was interesting to Thompson, he could not get away from painting and went on to receive his BA and MFA from San Jose State University (CA).  Thompson has exhibited throughout the West Coast and his work can be found in private collections throughout the world and in the permanent collections of The San Jose Museum of Art, The Nevada Museum of Art, The California Museum -Sacramento, The de Saisset Museum of Art - Santa Clara University, and The Fort Wayne Museum of Art.  Terry Thompson lives and works in San Francisco.
(Biography provided by George Billis Gallery)
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Artist: Terry Thompson
Hot Cake House
By Terry Thompson
Located in Fairfield, CT
or nearly twenty years, Thompson has focused primarily on painting old neon signs that have somehow avoided the wrecking ball - the signs that have lived and beat the odds. These sc...
Category

2010s Photorealist Terry Thompson Still-life Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Oakland Burgers & Pies
By Terry Thompson
Located in Fairfield, CT
or nearly twenty years, Thompson has focused primarily on painting old neon signs that have somehow avoided the wrecking ball - the signs that have lived and beat the odds. These sc...
Category

2010s Photorealist Terry Thompson Still-life Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Reno Circus Circus
By Terry Thompson
Located in Fairfield, CT
or nearly twenty years, Thompson has focused primarily on painting old neon signs that have somehow avoided the wrecking ball - the signs that have lived and beat the odds. These sc...
Category

2010s Photorealist Terry Thompson Still-life Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Liquor Deli
By Terry Thompson
Located in Fairfield, CT
or nearly twenty years, Thompson has focused primarily on painting old neon signs that have somehow avoided the wrecking ball - the signs that have lived and beat the odds. These sc...
Category

2010s Photorealist Terry Thompson Still-life Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Sacto Bowl
By Terry Thompson
Located in Fairfield, CT
or nearly twenty years, Thompson has focused primarily on painting old neon signs that have somehow avoided the wrecking ball - the signs that have lived and beat the odds. These sc...
Category

2010s Photorealist Terry Thompson Still-life Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Orpheum
By Terry Thompson
Located in Fairfield, CT
or nearly twenty years, Thompson has focused primarily on painting old neon signs that have somehow avoided the wrecking ball - the signs that have lived and beat the odds. These sc...
Category

2010s Photorealist Terry Thompson Still-life Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

TV Dinner, Fried Chicken
By Terry Thompson
Located in Fairfield, CT
Represented by George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles -- Artist Statement Nothing But Neon, 2021 I see beauty in old neon signs. I have always been fascinated by the glow inside the h...
Category

2010s Photorealist Terry Thompson Still-life Paintings

Materials

Oil, Panel

TV Dinner - Ham
By Terry Thompson
Located in Fairfield, CT
Represented by George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles -- Artist Statement Nothing But Neon, 2021 I see beauty in old neon signs. I have always been fascinated by the glow inside the h...
Category

2010s Photorealist Terry Thompson Still-life Paintings

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Oil, Panel

Garden of Eden
By Terry Thompson
Located in Fairfield, CT
Thompson's oil paintings of neon signage explore his appreciation for how these hand-made signs are built. This may be a result of the many years he spent as an equipment engineer in...
Category

2010s American Realist Terry Thompson Still-life Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

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Terry Thompson still-life paintings for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Terry Thompson still-life paintings available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Terry Thompson in oil paint, paint, panel and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 21st century and contemporary and is mostly associated with the Photorealist style. Not every interior allows for large Terry Thompson still-life paintings, so small editions measuring 36 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Randy Ford, Charles Ford, and Mary Ellen Johnson. Terry Thompson still-life paintings prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $6,000 and tops out at $10,500, while the average work can sell for $7,200.

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