Michael C. Thorpe at Paul R. Jones Museum

The Paul R. Jones Museum is proud to present Michael C. Thorpe: Nonsensical FormalismMarch 3 – April 28, 2023. 

• First Friday opening, March 3, 12 noon to 8:00 p.m.
• First Friday artist’s reception, April 7, 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. (open 12-8 p.m.)

Brooklyn, New York-based textileartist Michael C. Thorpe creates art quilts and fabric collages of bright,dream-like scenes and highly personal “meandering thoughts,” as one of hisearly solo shows was titled. For Thorpe, the quilt has become a canvas fordreaming up alternate pasts and exploring potential futures. The young artistsold all eighteen pieces at his first solo exhibition in 2020.

Daniel White, director of the PaulR. Jones Museum, who organized the exhibition, said, “Working from a deeplypersonal narrative, Thorpe brings a fresh voice to an age-old tradition and heis breaking new ground visually with the medium. As the Gee’s Bend Quilterstook their work to the Whitney Museum in 2003 and elevated quilts beyond theircraft identity, a new generation of textile artist brings his work back to theAlabama Black Belt. Thorpe’s work brings the Southern quilt tradition fullcircle as we celebrate how that tradition inspires contemporary artists workingtoday.”

Michael C. Thorpe is represented byLaiSun Keane Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts. Nonsensical Formalism hasbeen made possible by grants from the Alabama State Council on the Arts and theNational Endowment for the Arts. More about the exhibition here.