Storm Tharp
Through washes of color and intricate line, characters and expressive moments emerge in the work of Storm Tharp. “For every character there is a narrative by which details, choices, and fates are hung,” the artist notes, “It is the apparatus by which the character is read. I am curious about how authentically or artificially the part is played and how, in turn, that performance is the manifestation of some fantasy -- a manifestation of what we want to become.” Emphasizing the subtle space between body and form, between shape and abstraction, Tharp’s works blend his signature aesthetic with a deeper questioning of self. What is our inner identity and what is merely projection for the outer world? Where do these combine and coalesce? Tharp was raised in Ontario, OR, and currently resides in Tokyo, Japan. He has exhibited widely and is included in numerous public and private collections.
Storm Tharp’s work was featured in the 2010 Whitney Biennial. He was also the recipient of a 2016 Career Opportunity Grant and a 2006 Individual Fellowship from the Oregon Arts Commission, a 2014 Hallie Ford Fellowship, and has participated as a Visiting Artist at Anderson Ranch (Snowmass, CO) and was part of the Golden Spot Invitation for Visual Artists at the Caldera Artists Residency. In 2022, his work was featured on Platform. He has exhibited widely, having mounted solo exhibitions at PDX CONTEMPORARY ART (Portland, OR), Galerie Bertrand (Geneva, Switzerland), Feldbuschweisner (Berlin, Germany), Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery (New York, NY), and the Herbert F. Johnson Museum at Cornell University (Ithaca, NY). He has also participated in numerous two-person and group exhibitions at venues including Ochi Gallery (Ketchum, ID), James Harris Gallery (Seattle, WA), CANADA (New York, NY), The Cooley Gallery at Reed College (Portland, OR), Disjecta Contemporary Art Center (Portland, OR), Saatchi Gallery (London), and the Portland Institute of Contemporary Art (Portland, OR).
His work is included in the collections of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery (Buffalo, NY), the Cleveland Museum of Art (Cleveland, OH), the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University (Ithaca, NY), Museum of Contemporary Art (San Diego, CA), Portland Art Museum, Portland Institute of Contemporary Art (Portland, OR), Reed College (Portland, OR), Saatchi Gallery (London, UK), and the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York, NY).
Mentions and reviews of Tharp’s work and exhibitions have been featured in Art in America, Artforum, ART PAPERS, New American Paintings, Interview Magazine, Modern Painters, Shift Magazine (Japan), Daily Serving, The Daily Beast, Flavorwire, art ltd., Just Out, Visual Art Source, BOMB Magazine, The Oregonian, and Willamette Week.
