ABOUT WILLIAM PAUL THOMAS

William Paul Thomas is a visual artist and independent curator based in Durham, North Carolina.  His work is centered on making images to record his life experiences and observations. For over 15 years he has created intimate painted portraits of everyday people, giving special attention to other Black male subjects that he chooses as a way of recognizing their significance in his life’s path.  Thomas presented a talk on “The Invisible Notoriety of Strangers” at the 2022 TedX Duke Conference.  In addition to oil and acrylic painting, he also experiments with video and photography to capture idiosyncratic, abstracted depictions of love, joy, and adversity.   He earned a Bachelor of Fine Art degree in Studio Art from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and a Master of Fine Art Degree in Studio Art from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.  He is currently the Visiting Assistant Professor of Painting Foundations at Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina.

STATEMENT

I paint representations of disembodied heads of people in my social circle and sometimes scrawl text directly over their likenesses. That text is often tinged with dry humor, at times it is politically incorrect, and is regularly derived from the spoken vernacular of the communities I have lived in. My overarching goal is to share with diverse audiences what I see as worthwhile subject matter. That might include religious symbolism or popular slang.  I make pictures to document select parts of my life.

Many of us have immediate psychological connections to representations of the human face. We look for similarities between ourselves and those represented; note key differences between “us” and “them.” “He looks like so-and-so.” “She reminds me of whatshername.” Assumptions or questions about the subject’s state of mind usually follow. If the expression that the subject wears is ambiguous enough, we might begin to project our own emotions onto them to interpret the painting’s message.

I choose specific models as a way of recognizing their significance in my life’s path. I relish being able to honor everyday people through making images. We regularly celebrate women and men of prominence in mass media, so I take advantage of the opportunity to highlight the people that impact me on a more direct level than any untouchable celebrity or distant historical figure could. I integrate text and other symbols into the portrait work to narrow the subject matter to a certain degree and complicate the viewer’s understanding of the portrait subject’s identity. The work begins as an intimate acknowledgement of an individual and is subsequently transformed into a set of symbols poised for the viewer’s investigation.

 

 

 

PAST WORK

 

WILLIAM PAUL THOMAS
PUBLIC DISPLAYS OF AFFECTION

SEPTEMBER 18TH – OCTOBER 30 2021

Reflection from October 6, 2021

I have often described the Cyanosis paintings as metaphors for various forms of disenfranchisement.

On some days, and especially this morning, when I think more intently about how I see this visual metaphor played out in my life, I think these portraits are more about self-determination. In a society that has a ready supply of categories for “Black” men, my Blackness has already been predetermined. So the question that is always present for me is which of these predeterminations correspond to who I want to be and which ones I’d rather trash.

Years ago, Juan Logan recommended this collection of essays to me, “Black Cool: One Thousand Streams of Blackness” edited by Rebecca Walker. I think that the contributions to that text come closer to my personal experience of reconciling the celebration of my own Blackness with the recognition of how that same status marks us for exploitation.

If I could pick another title for this series, on my more optimistic days it might be called “BLACK COOL”. That’s way more refreshing than being deprived of oxygen. That’s just how I feel this morning.

William Paul Thomas

William Paul Thomas’s paintings are larger than life, both in physical presence and visual impact. Each image flirts with photorealism while maintaining evidence of a strong painterly hand, which is amplified by his rich color palette. Some of his subjects can be seen with their faces partially covered in blue, which he refers to as “Cyanosis”. This effect is a visceral depiction of the conflict and trauma that we all hold just beneath the surface. Cyanosis challenges viewers to be more aware of not only their own hardships, but also those of the people they interact with every day.

The title of the show, Public Displays of Affection, refers to his intimate connection with the people he paints. “I choose specific models as a way of recognizing their significance in my life’s path. I relish being able to honor everyday people through making images. We regularly celebrate women and men of prominence in mass media, so I take advantage of the opportunity to highlight the people that impact me on a more direct level than any untouchable celebrity or distant historical figure could.

A rising art star, William Paul Thomas was the youngest artist, and the only figurative painter, in the recent show Front Burner: Highlights in Contemporary North Carolina Painting at the North Carolina Museum of Art. He was the Brock Family Visiting Instructor in painting at Duke University for a year while his colleague Beverly McIver was a fellow at the American Academy in Rome. He currently teaches at Guilford College, and lives in Durham.

WILLIAM PAUL THOMAS
PUBLIC DISPLAYS OF AFFECTION

Statement

Most of my creative work is tangled up with the attempt to grant access to anyone on the outside. This gets complicated. Who said they even wanted to come in? I might paint a portrait of a young man who [understandably] has never set foot in the art gallery that sits within a mile of his childhood home. We invite his family to see the portrait. Maybe they’ll continue to visit the gallery after my show is de-installed. Maybe they won’t.

When I talk about my work to viewers, I’ll recount things from other intimate conversations to illustrate how personal exchanges inspire my decision making. I love sharing carefully designed paintings, prints, and digital experiments for public consumption. Whether the images are depictions of anonymous floating heads, headless bodies frozen in time, or cryptic phrases that invite extended inquiry, my efforts are heavily bent towards highlighting the questionable barriers that exist between us and everything else.

ABOUT WILLIAM PAUL THOMAS

William Paul Thomas is a visual artist based in Durham, North Carolina.  His work is centered on making images to record his life experiences and observations. For over 10 years he has created intimate painted portraits of everyday people that he chooses as a way of recognizing their significance in his life’s path.  In addition to painting and drawing, he also experiments with video and photography to capture idiosyncratic, abstracted depictions of love, joy, and adversity.  He earned a Bachelor of Fine Art degree in Studio Art from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and a Master of Fine Art Degree in Studio Art from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.  He is currently an adjunct visual art instructor at Guilford College