Tom Stanley

Painting and Drawing and Discovering a Practice attempts to demonstrate the struggle to find a voice in a new studio and a new environment. Finally, it is the working title of an exhibition that will travel to the Sarah Moody Gallery of Art at the University of Alabama, August 31- October 3, 2023.

Artistic statements come and go, and I have had my share. Since my move to a new community after 30 years in South Carolina, I have taken some time to revisit and recall. Over the years my work has moved back and forth between representational, or symbolic imagery, to the abstract; between limited colors and a palette of black and white. If there has been any common thread it might be a process reliant on mechanical drawing, a graphic tool and technique I identified during high school.

I have also come to recognize that my constant experimentation between representational and non-representational, between color and very little color, is part of how I grow the work. I do this from series to series. In each series I am visually trying “say something” I have not seen before. I am looking for a distinct visual idea in each series. Of the forty-five panels representing the work in the Sarah Moody show, some are singular pieces and some are parts of a larger arrangement of pieces. If you would like to see an installation proposal, please contact me via the email link on this website. - Tom Stanley