Thom Shaw

Artist Statement:

Written by DANIEL BROWN (INDEPENDENT ART ADVISOR CURATOR, CRITIC, LECTURER, COLLECTOR)

Thom Shaw (d. 2010) is part muckraker, part commentator on visual and popular culture, part art historian, part didacticist and polemicist. He’s also a consummate craftsman, autobiographer, narrator and, when he chooses to be, witticist. Shaw has, for decades, been the great explicator of the violence of urban black life to a mostly white art audience. He succeeds so brilliantly not to titillate a prominent middle class pruriently looking through the window of the poor, but because he hybridizes his woodcut figures in a manner that has the strength, the timelessness and the eclectic genius of Picasso. Thom Shaw is as serious and ambitious an artist as we know.

If Picasso borrowed what was formerly called “primitivism” from African (and Iberian) masks and sculpture and integrated their reductionist, abstracted qualities into his art, then Thom Shaw does the exact opposite, building from African and American Cubist stylizations into and through European, particularly German, Expressionism (which also portrayed popular demimondaine culture as narrative backdrop). As you see the Kathe Kollwitz in Thom Shaw, you understand the incredibly fine line between high and low art, or high and popular culture, in Shaw. Black inner city life is a demimonde, too, frequently found fascinating by both rich and bohemian/liberal whites. German Expressionism comes close to explicating the horrors of contemporary inner city life. Woodcut, a medium in which Shaw is peerless, exaggerates the stylized qualities of abstracted Expressionism; a Shaw figure may appear down and out, yet regal, iconic, totemic concurrently.

Another section of Shaw’s newer work examines Thugs, and their female equivalents or victims. He suggests that the inner cities are currently more, not less, violent. Faces sometimes look like they come from Picasso’s Guernica. The rich, deep blacks of Shaw’s ink contrast starkly with the pure whites of his paper. These technical masteries offer all his figures and his narrative a larger-than-life sense of grandness, an exaggerated emphasis on scale just as Kollwitz’s do.

“Artwork can be controversial,” [Thom Shaw] once said, “but we, artists, are ambassadors of truth, ambassadors of the human experience. We try to make sense of a world gone astray, and thus have an impact on people whether we intend it or not.”

Bio:

Thom Shaw: Man, Husband, Father, Brother, Friend, Spiritual leader, Activist, Artist In celebrating Thom’s art, you must understand the layers of the man. All of these characteristics came together to produce some of the most intriguing, inspiring and prolific pieces of art that man has ever seen. Art was life to my brother so nothing was off limits or taboo. He used his art to understand the world and his environment. He brought issues to the forefront and opened up doors for discussions. Not only did he use literal layers in his woodcuts, but figurative layers which represented the complexities of man.

Thom Shaw: Man, Husband, Father, Brother, Friend, Spiritual leader, Activist, Artist In celebrating Thom’s art, you must understand the layers of the man. All of these characteristics came together to produce some of the most intriguing, inspiring and prolific pieces of art that man has ever seen. Art was life to my brother so nothing was off limits or taboo. He used his art to understand the world and his environment. He brought issues to the forefront and opened up doors for discussions. Not only did he use literal layers in his woodcuts, but figurative layers which represented the complexities of man.

We were at opposite ends of the spectrum of Shaw family tree. He was the oldest and I the youngest. As a child, the only thing I knew about my brother was he was the one that drew the picture of my parents that sat above the mantle. It was not until I was older that I realized the impact my brother had on the art world. I have worked in buildings, gone to airports, gallery openings, art shows and exhibits all over the United States and unexpectedly found art pieces by Thom Shaw. Each time I made these discoveries, my heart would soar with happiness and pride. This was my brother.

Thom Shaw was a pioneer and innovator who continued to work tirelessly until the end of his life. His work is just as relevant and representative of society today as it was over 30 years ago when he was introduced to the art scene. I am honored to be a part of this celebration and I hope that his life and work continue to influence and inspire a new generation of young people, artists and art lovers.

By Leslie Shaw