TOM PALMORE
ANIMAL ENCOUNTERS
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Tom Palmore Animal Encounters
July 20 - August 19.2018 Artist Reception Friday, July 27
LewAllenGalleries Railyard Arts District | 1613 Paseo de Peralta | Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 | tel 505.988.3250 www.lewallengalleries.com | contact@lewallengalleries.com
cover: Spirit Wolf, oil and acrylic on panel, 24 x 24 in
Tom Palmore For more than 45 years, Tom Palmore has painted enchanting portraits of animals that blend the surreal, the clever, and the provocative with an idiosyncratic wit and exquisite detail. Painted with incredible, ultra-fine brushwork, his animals and birds seem to pause from their daily lives to act as models for Palmore, posed theatrically in front of backdrops ranging from curtains to petroglyphs, potted plants to toile de jouy. In Animal Encounters, Palmore’s art continues to playfully upend the traditions of portraiture, encouraging us to examine our own reactions to a painted world that eschews our expectations in service of the uncanny. Palmore’s animal subjects and studio-portrait backdrops reference both historic and contemporary portraiture and evoke a fantastical sense of magical realism. Each of his juxtaposed elements initially appear plausible, until closer examination reveals their improbable combination. One is encouraged to wonder about the self-awareness of these creatures: though posed within unfamiliar, artificial settings, they remain surrounded by imagery or patterning that links them through memory, association, or perhaps even their own sense of the familiar. Widely regarded for decades for his technical ability, clever titles and captivating subject matter, Palmore also inspires us to view each of his subjects as individuals with discernable personalities rather than as anonymous creatures. Rendering his wolves, bobcats, monkeys, and tropical birds with a sense of nobility, dignity, and eloquence, Palmore reminds his audience that these remarkable creatures can be regarded as partners alongside their human counterparts. Born in Oklahoma in 1945, Palmore studied painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. At the age of 25, his art was included in a Whitney Annual Exhibition and later chosen for inclusion in the Venice Biennale. His work appears in many prominent public collections as the Smithsonian Institution, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Kenneth R. Marvel
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Mountain Bluebird, 2018, oil and acrylic on panel, 20 x 16 in 3
Navajo Cat, 2018, oil and acrylic on canvas, 25 x 30 in
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Little Attitude, 2018, oil and acrylic on panel, 20 x 16 in
Blue Velvet, 2018, oil and acrylic on panel, 30 x 24 in
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Northern Beauty, 2018, oil and acrylic on panel, 24 x 18 in
Missing Lynx, 2018, oil and acrylic on panel, 16 x 20 in
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Picnic Thief, 2018, oil and acrylic on panel, 20 x 16 in
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Hummingbird Dancer, 2018, acrylic on canvas, 24 x 30 in
Mountain Lion with Blue, 2018, oil and acrylic on panel, 24 x 18 in
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Mr. Bluebird on My Shoulder, 2018, oil and acrylic on canvas, 28 x 38 in
Smarter Than You Think, 2018, oil and acrylic on panel, 16 x 20 in
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Don't Be Fooled by the Good Looks, 2018, oil and acrylic on panel, 18 x 24 in
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Snow Princess, 2018, oil and acrylic on canvas, 32 x 50 in
Young Prince of Tigerland, 2018, oil and acrylic on canvas, 24 x 18 in
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Composition in Red and Blue, 2018, oil and acrylic on panel, 16 x 20 in
Robin said, "Beep, Beep," 2018, oil and acrylic on canvas, 24 x 30 in
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Hawkeye, 2018, oil and acrylic on panel, 40 x 30 in
Harpy Eagle Looking Like an Indian Chief, 2015, oil and acrylic on canvas, 36 x 48 in
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Tom Palmore SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2014 LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe, NM 2012 LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe, NM 2010 LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe, NM 2008 LewAllen Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM 2006 LewAllen Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM 2003 LewAllen Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM 2002 Newman and Saunders Gallery, Philadelphia, PA 1999 US Artist 99, Philadelphia, PA The Academy Show, J. Cacciola Galleries, New York, NY 1998 OTHER EARTHLINGS, J. Cacciola Galleries, New York, NY 1995 Roland Betts Gallery, Santa Fe, NM 1994 J. Cacciola Galleries, New York, NY 1993 Elaine Horwitch Gallery, Santa Fe, NM; also 1992, 1981, 1979 1991 Sherry Frumkin Gallery, Santa Fe, NM 1989 Birds, Bulls, and a Couple of Monkeys, Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, NM 1986 Recent Paintings, Gerald Peters Gallery, Dallas, TX 1985 Performing Animals, Route 66, Philadelphia, PA 1983 Texas Wildlife, F.C.I., Fort Worth, TX 1977 Paint By Numbers, Janet Fleischer, Philadelphia, PA 1976 Marion Locks Gallery, Philadelphia, PA; also 1977, 1971 1975 Louis K. Miesel Gallery, New York, NY 1973 Trophies, Bernard Dannenberg Galleries, Philadelphia, PA SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2005 Small Works, LewAllen Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM 1998 US Artist Exhibition, Philadelphia, PA Leading the West, Munson Gallery, Santa Fe, NM 1997 US Artists’ Exhibition, Philadelphia, PA Gallery Group Show, J. Cacciola Galleries, New York, NY; also 1996 1995 Horwitch/Newman, Phoenix, AZ 1994 Philadelphia Academy of Arts, US Artists’ Exhibition 1993 Tokyo Art Fair, Tokyo J. Cacciola Galleries, New York, NY; also 1992 Elaine Horwitch Gallery, Santa Fe, NM; also 1982, 1981 Prairie Edge Gallery, South Dakota 1990 Tom Palmore and Rudy Fernandez, New York, NY Sherry Frumkin Gallery, Santa Monica, CA 1986 Elaine Horwitch Galleries, Scottsdale, AZ; also 1985, 1984, 1981 1985 Route 66, Philadelphia, PA; also 1983 Alumni Show, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA Watermelon Show, Willard/Lee Gallery, Richmond, VA Artists of Santa Fe, Dallas Theater Center, TX Rockefeller Center, NY Tokyo, Japan Landscape Invitational Show Santa Fe Festival of the Arts, Santa Fe, NM 1983 The West as Art, Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs, CA The Panhandle Collects, Amarillo Arts Center, Amarillo, TX 1981 Marion Locks Gallery, Philadelphia, PA; also 1979 Dorthea Spayer Gallery, Paris, France; also 1980, 1979, 1976 Philadelphia Museum of Arts, PA; also 1977, 1976 1980 Carson Sapiro Gallery, Denver, CO American Realism Since 1960, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA 23
1979 Louis K. Meisel Gallery New York, NY; also twice in 1976 Contemporary-A Portrait Show, Squinn Gallery, Princeton, NJ 1978 Decade of American Painting, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY Art in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA Animals in Art, Syracuse, NY 1977 Philadelphia in Washington, Pyramid Gallery, Washington, DC The Presence and Absence in Realism, State University College, Potsdam, NY International Events, 72-76 Venice Biennale, Italy 8th International Festival of Paintings, Cagnes-Sur Mer, France Third International Contemporary Art Fair, Paris, France 1976 Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY Contemporary Portraits, Lancaster Community Art Center, Lancaster, PA 1974 Aviation, The New York’s Cultural Center, NY Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis MN University of Houston Fine Arts Center, TX Carrington Gallery Auckland, New Zealand, Denedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin, New Zealand Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, New Zealand Five Pennsylvania Artists, Pennsylvania State University Museum of Art Park French Biennial Exhibition, Paris, France COLLECTIONS Albuquerque Museum of Art, History, and Science Allentown Museum of Art AMOCO Atlantic Richfield Center for Visual Arts AT&T Brooklyn Museum Chase Manhattan Bank Continental Bank Denver Art Museum Everson Museum of Art F.C.I. Girard Bank Indianapolis Museum of Art Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe National Museum of Wildlife Art New Orleans Museum of Art Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art Philadelphia Museum of Art Price Waterhouse Princeton University Silver Screen Productions Smithsonian Institute Stanley Marcus—Neiman Marcus St. Louis Art Museum Thomas Reed Corporation Twenty Mule Team Museum Vesti Corporation Whitney Gallery of Western Art at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center Whitney Museum of Art Wolfer Printing Corporation Xerox
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Railyard Arts District | 1613 Paseo de Peralta | Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 | tel 505.988.3250 www.lewallengalleries.com | contact@lewallengalleries.com Š 2018 LewAllen Contemporary LLC Artwork Š Tom Palmore