A nonexistent storyline
only lives for a split moment that the artist is able to display through attentively planning every detail of the shot. He began taking photographs at the age of nineteen after finding interest in nearby abandoned houses, sometimes even living in these houses for a couple of days to work on a particular shot.
Untitled (2019) by Kyle ThompsonTHAT'S CONTEMPORARY
His work is mostly composed of self portraits, which he shoots using a timer and moving slowly in front of the camera as if it was a solitary performance.Thompson's carefully staged photographs encapsulate an ephemeral narrative.As he states, it is more of a work of pre-production, than of any post production.
His work is mostly composed of self portraits, which he shoots using a timer and moving slowly in front of the camera as if it was a solitary performance.Thompson's carefully staged photographs encapsulate an ephemeral narrative.As he states, it is more of a work of pre-production, than of any post production.
Moth and Flame (2019) by Kyle ThompsonTHAT'S CONTEMPORARY
The artists describes his way of working as “getting out of one’s comfort zones”, by this he means that he is always experimenting and he makes his photos in complicated settings: immerging himself in gelid, muddy waters or covering his body with fire.
Capsule (2019) by Kyle ThompsonTHAT'S CONTEMPORARY
One of the most interesting and mysterious series is Ghost Towns (2015) for doing which the artist lived alone for two days in one of the abandoned houses of a ghost town in United States.
In most recent work Open Stage (2017-2018), instead, Thompson considered the setting in which he shoots as a stage and he created a pairs of photo: the first is a self-portrait and the second, much smaller, depicts the environment around, breaking the illusion and the surreal atmosphere of the first. Those works were shown inside the Reggia of Caserta (Italy) in 2018.
Untitled (2019) by Kyle ThompsonTHAT'S CONTEMPORARY
Toy Gun (2019) by Kyle ThompsonTHAT'S CONTEMPORARY
The last series of Thompson’s works, Sinking Ship (2019), both a catalogue and a solo exhibition, are inspired to Elsworth, a ghost town in the American grassland visited by the artist. The title is a metaphor of the physical collapse of some towns in Midwest and in Oregon due to socio-economic crisis or natural disaster, that have also produced, then, a psychological and moral breakdown of the inhabitants forced to leave the towns. These photos disclose an unknown but authentic and deeply-rooted side of the United States.
Open Road (2019) by Kyle ThompsonTHAT'S CONTEMPORARY
Untitled (2019) by Kyle ThompsonTHAT'S CONTEMPORARY
Kyle Thompson was born in Chicago in 1992 and he is currently based in Portland, Oregon.
Index I (2019) by Kyle ThompsonTHAT'S CONTEMPORARY
The work of Thompson was also published into important international magazine as National Geographic and Vogue Italia. Selected Solo Show: Open Stage, curated by Gabriela Galati, Reggia di Caserta, promoted by aA29 Project Room gallery (2018); IN-Visible/ Diario di uno schizofrenico, curated by Federica de Stasio, aA29 Project Room Caserta (2017); Ghost Town, One Grand Gallery, Portland (2015). Selected group show: Art Market Budapest, Opiom Gallery (2017); Lucca Art Fair, aA29 Project Room (2017); Virei Viral, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Rio De Janeiro (2014); Corpe Diem, Chabram Centre D’Art Contemporain, Paris(2013).
This virtual exhibition was brought together with aA29 Project Room on the occasion of the exhibition "Sinking Ship” visitable from November 21st 2019 to January 29th 2020.
Discover more here.
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