Art And 'Compassion' -- John Paul Thornton Paints About The Human Need To Connect
From portraits of America's missing children to images of colorful weddings around the globe, an art exhibition examines the compulsion to reach out.
Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) June 5, 2006 -- A long wall of paintings depict faces of America's missing children. Another depicts Buddhist monks fleeing oppression over the Himalayas. On a third wall is a larger than life-size scene of a Hindu cremation ceremony. Each painting suggests the challenge of maintaining faith, which is the subject of "Compulsion/ Compassion"- an exhibition of paintings by John Paul Thornton at Infusion Gallery in Los Angeles.
Artist John Paul Thornton traveled to India to work with Tibetan refugee kids, an experience that led to his current series. While there, Thornton remembers watching a beautiful ceremony unfold before him on the banks of the Ganges river. Amid thousands of bathers wrapped in colorful saris, a young bride dressed up in a brilliant red gown carefully made her way through the crowd to pray by the water. "With all of our modern world changing frantically around us and with all of the despairing news in the world, I watched a single individual acting in faith," says Thornton. "Here was a person driven to live out the traditions of her culture, to fulfill a role of devotion."
Thornton's paintings of missing children, which now number in the hundreds, offer another kind of devotion. Week after week for over a decade, he has created a portrait of a missing child.The series began when a student of his was reported missing. As a kind of ritual for himself, he has offered up his time and energy children known only to him by the "Have you seen me? " fliers we all receive in the mail. It is this devotion that keeps the energy of his work life-affirming, even when his subjects come with such weight.
John Paul Thornton's paintings have been exhibited on the National Mall at the White House and the Lincoln memorial in Washington D.C. He has been honored by the California State Senate and CBS television, and has received grants from the Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department for his work. He was invited by the Tibetan government-in-exile to develop art programming for children, which he implemented while living and painting in the Himalayan refugee camps of Nepal. As an art educator Thornton has conducted workshops in India and Japan and is the founder of Human Arts Project International, a non-profit organization which supports creative artistic solutions to social issues.
Infusion Gallery presents: "Compulsion / Compassion"
A solo exhibition by Los Angeles artist John Paul Thornton
http://www.infusiongallery.com
828 South Main Street, Los Angeles, California 90014
Contact number: 213.683.8827
Hours: Tue.-Sat., 12-6 p.m. , Sun.-Mon. by appointment
Show runs May through June 30, 2006
Compassion Opening Reception: June 8th, 6 - 10 p.m.
Artist Talk and Closing Reception: June 24th, Noon - 6 p.m.
###
Post Comment:
Trackback URL: http://www.prweb.com/pingpr.php/U2luZy1Ib3JyLVNxdWEtRW1wdC1JbnNlLVplcm8=
Bookmark -
Del.icio.us |
Furl It |
Technorati |
Ask |
MyWeb |
Propeller |
Live Bookmarks |
Newsvine |
TailRank |
Reddit |
Slashdot |
Digg |
Stumbleupon |
Google Bookmarks |
Sphere |
Blink It |
Spurl
|
