Tom Gregg’s paintings are formal explorations of light, shadow, and geometry. Elegant and restrained in their color palette, the compositions at first glance seem simple. But further inspection reveals the absurd and occasionally ominous relationships between objects: a grenade nestled next to a delicate teacup, apples and unlit cigarettes in clean ashtrays, a turnip cheekily joining elegant citrus fruit. Gregg is a master of understated compositions that benefit from careful inspection. Three paintings of glassware against primary color backgrounds are seemingly about form and impeccable rendering of refracted light through glass – a closer look reveals the windows of the artist’s studio reflected in the glasses.
Objects have a powerful resonance for Gregg. These objects have an existence in their own right, their own life in the universe but with a different sense of time. A bowl left on a table with remain there – oblivious to the activity swirling around it. They have a patience and a calm that is far removed from the frenetic pace of modern life.
A clear lineage exists between Gregg’s work and Giorgio Morandi’s masterful mid-20th century still life paintings. But Gregg has pushed the narrative aspect of his paintings into new territory through the complex relationships between his objects. The paintings are meditative and a respite from the chaotic digital imagery of our daily lives but they are far from simple. The meticulously intricate surface texture of the backgrounds and impeccably precise objects bely the almost haphazard arrangements and speak to the exacting decisions made by the artist in every aspect of his work.
TOM GREGG received his BFA in Printmaking from the Rhode Island School of Design and his MFA from the Yale University School of Art. Gregg’s paintings have appeared in exhibitions internationally including at the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts (Hagerstown, MD), Flame Show 2011, Seoul, South Korea, Fort Wayne Museum of Fine Art (Fort Wayne, IN), Kansas City Jewish Museum of Contemporary Art (Kansas City, MO), D’Lan Contemporary ArtSpace (Brisbane, Australia), and Southwest Missouri State University (Springfield, MO), among others. He was a recipient of an NEA Visual Arts Fellowship Award(1994), a Residency at The Yaddo Colony, Saratoga Springs, NY (1992), The Elizabeth Canfield Hicks Award, Yale University, New Haven, CT (1987), and a Residency at The MacDowell Colony, Peterborough, NH (1984). His paintings are included in numerous public and private collections and have been published in American Art Collector, Art & Antiques, The Kansas City Star, and New York Magazine. Gregg lives and works in Kansas City, Missouri.
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