Green’s early artworks were full of detail, even in the smallest of paintings, creating many different episodes across the page and a string of captivating narratives that beg for an in depth study. There is something whimsical about Green’s paintings on first glance with their bright colors, Pop-inspired and lyrical presentation, yet they are full of social meaning and critique.

David Richard Gallery will present a survey of paintings on canvas and paper as well as drawings by the Washington, D.C. artist Tom Green (1942 – 2012) in his first solo exhibition with the gallery. A Selection of Green’s last series of paintings created from 2006 through 2010 will be debuted in this exhibition. Mapping the Human Condition | family, nature, war, authority, memory, compassion will be presented April 17 through May 24, 2015 with an opening reception with the artist’s widow, Linda Green on Friday, April 24 from 5:00 - 7:00 PM. There will be a gallery talk with Linda Green and David Eichholtz discussing Tom Green’s life and career on Saturday, April 25 from 2:00 - 3:00 PM. The gallery is located at 544 South Guadalupe Street, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501, phone 505-983-9555 in the Santa Fe Railyard Arts District.

Tom Green was an observer of people and situations. His art captures the essence of both along with the natural and manmade environments surrounding them. A student of the 60s and living in the Washington, D.C. area most of his life, his artwork was influenced by Pop culture and the political landscape. Green’s paintings and drawings are mostly personal and derived from his imagination (or interpretation) using his unique language of “glyphs” and presentation style. This exhibition focuses on Tom’s love of nature and the influence of his family. There is an overarching sense of landscape, or better yet ‘mindscapes’, that will have you understanding and speaking his ‘language’ after spending time with the paintings.

Green’s early artworks were full of detail, even in the smallest of paintings, creating many different episodes and bursts of mini-situations across the page with a string of captivating narratives that beg for an in depth study. Most of the early paintings have a legend around the border with the characters, motifs and icons in the paintings framing the final presentation. These isolated events in the paintings evolved into a more reductive collage-like style where compartmentalized images were arranged in blocks on panel and paper that became his next signature style. There is something whimsical about Green’s paintings on first glance with their bright colors and lyrical presentation, yet they are full of cultural meaning and social critique. Green comes full circle in his last body of work, returning with a colorful and rhythmic approach on stretched canvas, but on a much larger scale. These paintings are unique in that they can double as aerial views of the landscape or an underwater adventure. Either way, both were passions of Green’s and full of new creatures and imagery.

Tom Green studied at the University of Maryland and taught art at the Corcoran College of Art and Design. He had numerous solo exhibitions and his artwork included in many group exhibitions throughout his nearly five-decade career with presentations in Washington, D.C., New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Richmond, Williamstown, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Cambridge, Lima, Peru and Moscow, Russia. Green’s artwork is in many private and public collections, including the permanent collections of the Guggenheim Museum, New York; Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C.; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Baltimore Museum of Art, Maryland; Rutgers Center for Innovative Printmaking, New Brunswick; Instituto Cultural Peruano Norteamericano, Lima, Peru; D.C. Public Library, Washington, D.C.; and the American University, Washington, D.C., among others.