“Thornton Willis: A Painting Survey, Six Decades, 1967–2017”
Gallery chronicle
by James Panero
May 2022
“Thornton Willis: A Painting Survey, Six Decades, 1967–2017”
Gallery chronicle
by James Panero
May 2022
A major survey of the paintings of Thornton Willis, now on view at David Richard Gallery across its two New York locations, serves to illustrate the long influence of Russian design, for one, on the history of modern painting.2 This ambitious exhibition also makes a case for the inclusion of Willis in the pantheon of American abstract art. With over twenty major works on view from the artist’s collection, some of them not shown outside the studio for several decades, “Thornton Willis: A Painting Survey, Six Decades, 1967–2017” brings together highlights from each of Willis’s series of abstract compositions. David Richard’s Chelsea location includes a tight arrangement of medium-size paintings, while the gallery’s Harlem venue gathers Willis’s largest works, topping out at over ten feet wide. The survey coincides with “Exploring Thornton Willis,” an exhibition at the Sarah Moody Gallery of Art at the University of Alabama, featuring a selection from Willis’s recent gift of over two dozen paintings to his alma mater.
Working across more than six decades, Willis has been consistent in his abstract exploration of the basic tensions between figure and ground, push and pull, color and contrast, and surface and depth—visiting and revisiting his visual language. Observing his work over twenty of those years, I have learned to look to his edges to appreciate how his fields of paint rub against each other to create their dynamic tension.
In their simplicity, Willis’s more basic abstractions, such as his wedges, lattices, and zig-zags, are approached as particular challenges of visual animation. Bold compositional decisions, from paint handling to color contrasts to the placement of a single corner or edge, are what set these works in motion. With Willis’s more complex abstractions, such as his cityscapes and kaleidoscopic prisms, the challenge is not to create tension but to maintain it. Underdrawing, pentimenti, and paint splatter all signal the energy of that final dynamic, of artist and object, as Willis folds his compositions together to await our own unpacking—ensuring his designs do not land too firmly on one thing or another. The suspension of Brooklyn Bridge (1993), the shock of Brown Zinger (1983), the portal of Full House (1981), the mechanics of Locomotive (1999), the radiance of Starstrux (2007)—the full energy of these paintings is now ready to be felt and seen.
Associated Artist
Associated Exhibitions
- Thornton Willis A Painting Survey, Six Decades: 1967 – 2017
526 West 26th Street, Suite 9E
March 30, 2022 - May 19, 2022
MORE INFO - Thornton Willis A Painting Survey, Six Decades: 1967 – 2017
UPTOWN LOCATION
April 4, 2022 - May 13, 2022
MORE INFO
Associated News
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May 12, 2022
Thornton Willis: A Painting Survey, Six Decades: 1967–2017
The Brooklyn Rail
By Tom McGlynn
May 12, 2022 -
May 1, 2022
“Thornton Willis: A Painting Survey, Six Decades, 1967–2017”
Gallery chronicle
by James Panero
May 2022
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April 28, 2022
Thornton Willis’s Aversion to Perfection
Hyperallergic
John Yau
April 28, 2022 -
April 12, 2022
The Critic’s Notebook
by The Editors
On the American Revolution, Thornton Willis, Charleston, Richard Strauss & more.
Dispatch April 12, 2022 10:30 am
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April 10, 2022
Thornton Willis, Illuminating the Future of Abstract Art
New York Sun
Dana Gordon
April 10, 2022
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April 5, 2022
Thornton Willis: A Painting Survey Six Decades: Works from 1967 - 2017
GalleriesNow
April 5, 2022
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March 30, 2022
Thornton Willis: A Painting Survey Six Decades: Works from 1967 - 2017
GalleriesNow
April 5, 2022 -
March 26, 2022
Press Release - Thornton Willis A Painting Survey, Six Decades: Works from 1967 – 2017 -
September 1, 2003
An Interview with Artist Thornton Willis
Julie Karabenick
GeoForm
September 2003