TERRY THOMPSON

THOMPSONSTREET.COM IN CONVERSATION WITH AMERICAN ARTIST TERRY THOMPSON

TS: It’s been a long time since you moved to Baltimore from Chicago. Tell us how you ended up in the Charm City.

TT: For some reason Maryland happened to be part of my life journey since the early 80’s.  I first came to Maryland for 6 month of Army Training in 1980. Next thing you know, I’m back here again for 3 months of training in 1983.   Four years later, I received a permanent duty assignment in Maryland from 1987 to 1989. During those years, I spent a lot of time dj’ing in Baltimore nightclubs. I met so many different people through that experience. I went back to Chicago after leaving the military and applied for jobs across the country.  I ended up getting a great opportunity in Baltimore. I knew the city and had lots of friends in the area, so it was an easy decision to move back. February 1990, I settled in a loft downtown and that’s where everything started with my art.

TS: Bret McGabe wrote a long article in the Baltimore City Paper about your time as a dj and how it influenced your Seven Days exhibition at Galerie Francoise.

TT: It was great to get a call from Bret asking to do an interview. Music has always inspired me in so many ways. I love all types of music. You can hear everything from House Music to the Doors in my studio. When I’m dj’ing, I mostly play House Music and Disco.  So it’s quite natural for music to have some kind of influence on my art.

TS: You have so many disciplines. How did you get started dj’ing?

TT: Back in high school a good friend needed help dj’ing at a party. I helped him out and that started the dj’ing bug. It took me about 2 to 3 years after high school to get good enough to play in the clubs. Once I got the skills of mixing and programming up to a professional level—well the rest is history.

TS: You are pretty well know in Miami for your epic pool parties during the Winter Music Conference.

TT: Yes, it was a lot of fun hosting parties in Miami. None of it would have been possible if I didn’t meet the Miami promoters for the famous nightclub Nikki Beach.  They booked me to host parties since I had a very popular record on the UK London label Defected. That gave me a lot of visibility around the globe in the dance community. I have lots of experience promoting parties since the late 80’s. So it was business as usual. The club promoting landscape is different in Miami, you just adapt to the environment and make sure you have a contract for everything from the venue to the djs.

TS: It’s great that you have given the dance community so many wonderful events and parties over the years. Tell us how the music influenced your Party People series.

TT: Well for me art and music has always been connected. I have to say that the spirit of the dance culture really inspired me to document my experience with that community. I connect with the djs, dancers, fans and club owners in celebration of a movement that is very transformative. The grids in the paintings are really windows of spaces where you see all of these people with their hands in the air, in a joyful climate of ecstasy. Not fuel by drugs, but by the music. I drew the Party People sketches around 2005. A vision came to me— to transform them into paintings. It took about two years to create the series. I started with one painting, then another, and next you know, I have full body of work. The idea of working with pastel oil sticks directly on canvas was a little scary. If I made a mistake, there was no turning back, and covering it up with paint. Once one was completed, I felt more comfortable with the rhythms of the strokes and started to form my own vocabulary. I really love the Party People series. The paintings reminds me of all the people, places and experiences in Miami during the Winter Music Conference. The music never stop with these paintings. You just look them and listen to them sing.

TS: Tell us more about your experience in the Sub-Basement and the other works you created during that period

TT: The space in the Sub-Basement was enormous. 25,000 square feet. So I could paint really big. I painted the Contradiction series and Party People series in that space. My studio mates were Jeffrey Kent (the founder) and Amy Sherald. Both of them are doing quiet well in the art world. We have very different styles, so there was never any conflict or competition. I worked mostly late nights and Sunday mornings. Our creative schedules worked perfect.

TS: How long have to been in your current studio?

TT: Since 2008. This is my 4th studio since I’ve in Baltimore. It’s been 12 years. I can say it’s truly been amazing. I started sub-leasing half of the space from my art dealer Mary Jo Gordon. She was using it for storage. When her gallery closed in 2017, I took over the whole space.

TS: You created some amazing work since 2008.

TT: Thank you so much. Everyday in the studio is a new adventure. One thing that is consistent with my studio practice is I try to mentally plan things ahead before going to the space. I am always sketching out things at home. So it makes time in the studio as most productive as possible. When you wear as many hats as I do, you really have to be organized. And really try to not to get distracted. It happens to me so often. One day I’m working on a series in the studio, and then all of sudden, I’m receiving lots of dj bookings. Not that I’m complaining. It’s a great thing. I had to really learn how to turn down dj bookings that interfered with my art studio production. It’s all good. I am a great time manager. I gave up my music productions. It’s too time consuming and I really wanted to focus on my art and occasionally taking local dj gigs. No more traveling dj gigs. They are too exhausting.

I’ve been busy in this studio from the beginning. I had to get adjusted to working again in the daylight. The Sub-Basement did not have windows and had poor air circulation. I would drive my studio mates crazy with my oil paints. Today, I don’t have those types of impacts. I can just focus on experimenting and creating. The first works were an extension of the Party People series. I created the Book of Love and the other works exhibited in the Seven Days show. Then I experimented for about two years with lots of things before creating a new style I called the Alien Conversations Series. In 2018 and 2019, I created the Bianco e Nero series. Now I’m working on expanding the Alien Conversations Series with new works.

TS: Tell us more about Alien Conversation series. How did you come up with that name?

TT: The Alien Conversations paintings are one of my favorite series of works. It is amazing what the brain can do. I had these wild dreams about oval shapes floating in space. Sort of like a massive lava lamp. These shapes are not unique to this series. They appear in my collages works like “Spectrum” and older paintings like “Stealing Faith” and newer works like “Neutralino”.

TS: I see the circles in the Spectrum painting.

TT: In the Alien Conversations paintings the circles take more of an egg-like shape. I spent months sketching clusters of oval shapes and hands interwoven into each other. I thought it would it be fascinating to paint them in a range of bright and dark colors. I came up with name Alien Conversations because to me, it appears like the shapes are talking to each other and floating on top of each other in 3-D mode. When you look at them closely, you can see the dialogue. I will let the art historians tell future audiences what they mean. In 20 to 50 years or so, we will be able to better understand the paintings. For now, I like the fact so many people love the Alien Conversations paintings and all of the vast interpretations. One of my Psychiatrist friends said the egg-shapes are representation of life. I guess they are life like forms in the shapes. That’s great because it means the Alien Paintings are breathing.

TS: Tell us about your amazing show Bianco e Nero last year at YART Gallery.

TT: The Bianco e Nero shows was great. The show is Black and White in english. This series I used the Italian translation. It was my first exhibition at YART gallery. Julie Yensho the gallery curator and owner asked to represent my work in Baltimore. I love the space so it is a good match so far. The funny thing is I try to plan out the works for the show. When a friend and I showed up with with a moving truck full of art. We looked at the space and realized there is too much of my of my Bianco e Nero works for the space. We paired things down a little to exhibit over 30 works. Including plates that I created just for the show. I experimented with plates over the last couple of years. I just just want to show paintings and works on paper. The plates were addition to the exhibition. All of them sold. So that was pretty cool. In fact the exhibition turned out to be great. I wish the show could have stayed up for 2 to 3 months for everyone in the city to see. Overall, I am really happy to give back to Baltimore in such a creative way.

TS: What’s next for Terry Thompson

TT: I am always working and creating something in the studio. This time, I am expanding the number works in the Alien Conversations Series. I’ve been in the studio heavily since the beginning of the year. With the pandemic going on, I have lots of time to come up with some pretty cool works. Once a cure for Covid-19 is found, I hope to find a global gallery or museum with enough exhibition space to properly show the large-scaled works. In the meantime, I will have a virtual gallery exhibition in October that will feature the first segment of Alien Conversations series. So look out for the press release soon. It is going be great. The virtual exhibition will be easy to navigate at the comfort of your own home with your favorite grapes, wine and cheeses. Invite a few friends over and have your own private VIP session. That is the beauty of the virtual exhibition. You can look at the art as long as you want, and don’t have to worry about getting kick out the gallery. And there are no gatekeepers.

TS: Thank you for the informative discussion. We look forward to chatting with you soon about your Virtual Exhibition.

TT: Thanks for having me. I look forward to seeing everyone soon. Take care.