Tom Palmore: Other Earthlings

Tom Palmore Other Earthlings

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Tom Palmore Other Earthlings

Railyard Arts District | 1613 Paseo de Peralta | Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 | 505.988.3250 www.lewallengalleries.com | contact@lewallengalleries.com cover: Tropical, 2021, Oil and acrylic on canvas, 60" x 48"

Tom Palmore | Other Earthlings For more than 45 years, Tom Palmore has painted captivating portraits of animals that blend the provocative and the surreal through characteristic wit and exquisite detail. While the traditions of portraiture historically served a variety of social, cultural, and even political functions, Palmore builds on these presuppositions by activating his viewers’ sense of irony. Invoking various points of reference across history, art, and ecology, his art blurs the boundaries between photorealism and the absurd, art and artifice, human and animal.

Painted with incredible, ultra-fine brushwork, his animals, birds, and other creatures seem to pause from their daily lives to act as models for Palmore, posed theatrically in front of backdrops ranging from Ancient Mayan relief carvings to the curtains at the Santa Fe Opera. Though they are posed within unfamiliar, artificial settings, his animal subjects remain surrounded by imagery or patterning that links them through memory, association, or perhaps even their own sense of the familiar. Referencing everything from studio-portrait photography to the history of art around the world, these environments evoke a sense of magical realism and often lend his canvases a narrative or theatrical quality.

Palmore also invites us to view each of his subjects as individuals—as other Earthlings, with discernable personalities and identities instead of anonymous creatures. Rendering his bears, hummingbirds, tigers, and horses with a sense of nobility, dignity, and honor, Palmore reminds his audience that these remarkable creatures can be regarded as partners alongside their human counterparts.

To accompany this exhibition, LewAllen is pleased to present the following interview with the artist conducted by Alex Gill, our Communications Manager, on June 18, 2021 at Palmore’s studio in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Kenneth R. Marvel

interview with tom palmore • Tom, how do you arrive at ideas for paintings in a major show like this?

I get it from everything. You just have to be open to it. I just finished a book that was called The Bird Way

by Jennifer Ackerman. It’s absolutely fascinating. Historically, when you wanted to insult someone, you’d say “bird brain.” Turns out birds are actually a lot more intelligent than we ever gave them credit for.

I read mainly non-fiction, and I have all these books on Egyptian art, Mayan art, East Indian art—I have hundreds of books in the house. Every night I go to sleep by reading my Kindle. When it falls down, that’s when I know it’s time to turn the light off.

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Interview with Tom Palmore Continued • Drawing from all of this source material, how do you find yourself deciding on each subject?

Well, for this one [Santa Fe Opera] I wanted to do a painting of the Santa Fe Opera. I was interested in the way that the stage is designed and set up, how you can see the sunset from your seat in the audience. It looks like a painting behind all of the action up on stage. I wanted to include the curtain because it makes it a little more formal looking. As for the canaries, well, they certainly know how to sing. And the bird in Tropical is a conyer, which is a very colorful Australian parrot. I love the fact that conyers and birds of paradise and others have this outrageous coloring. I think it’s magnificent. I find it so fascinating that this happens in nature.

• And I think we can feel your fascination—the way that you paint them, it’s contagious.

Yes, and when it really works, I feel like I do capture the personality of each animal.

Years ago, I gave a quote to an interviewer, and I told her that I approach my paintings as if the animal had commissioned me to do the painting. It was an off-the-cuff comment, but it has followed me for years.

And it’s pretty much true. If you were going to have your portrait painted, you’d want to show your best ‘you.’

Sometimes it’s finding that sense of the unexpected, or sometimes it’s my sense of humor. I realized early on that the only limitation that I have is my imagination. There are no rules in art, and that’s the thing that feels good about it.

• You’ve said that you paint your animals as though they are portrait sitters, lending them a sense of nobility and pride. What does that mean in the context of the state of the environment today?

Talking about the title of the show, the thing is, animals are other Earthlings. They have the same right to the planet that we do. We’re supposedly the smarter of the animal species, but I’m not so sure about that. I’ve been around long enough to see some major changes in the environment.

I was listening to NPR the other day, and an ornithologist was talking about a study that was done on the decline of bird population in North America over the last fifty years, which is down 5 billion. I thought, surely that’s not true. But I know that’s the case with so many other species. It just makes me sad, you know? people are captivated by the way your art is so realistic, studied, and so on—but you also add in this sensation of unreality.

I like that feeling of illusion. People have said that my paintings look staged, and I want them to look staged, even theatrical. It takes them out of the realm of being wildlife paintings. A lot of realist painters are influenced by nature—you can’t compete. You can only interpret, and make it personal.

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interview with tom palmore continued • Where do you think your own connection to the animal world comes from?

I grew up with my grandparents and one of the things we did was raised animals together, including a pair of Russian pigeons. It was a fun thing for us to do together. And every weekend—and I mean every weekend—we went fishing. My grandad even built the flat bottom boat that we had that fit in the back of the pickup truck. But it never seemed to be about how many we caught, or what the biggest one was, or anything like that. I think he just loved nature, being in nature. He knew every lake and river in Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Texas.

He also liked to draw. And so when I was 4 and 5 years old, my grandad would bond with me and amuse me by drawing different animals and things that I’d ask him to draw. I’d say, “Papa, how about a cow?”

And he’d go, “What kind of cow?” And I’d go, “I don’t know, I’m four!”

All of that meant a great deal to me. You look at the painting of a dolphin that’s in this show, that one came from childhood memories in the ‘50s of throwing the little glider airplanes that all the kids were throwing around those days. I remember going out on the boats and watching the dolphins doing their wave-surfing thing.

• I think a lot of people don’t realize just how tied your art is to your childhood, or to memories of your travels, or other life experiences.

You have to be open to all of it. It’s good to draw from your existence, your childhood, even to just yesterday. The fact that I raised animals with my grandparents, and ended up owning a ranch in Oklahoma, all of that goes into the big mix.

• Tell me about raising animals in Oklahoma – what sorts of animals did you raise?

We had a pair of miniature donkeys named Chichi and Chacha. One was sweet and the other was kind of mean. We had a llama. We had Barbado blackbelly sheep. We also raised horses, including one that ended up becoming a world champion halter horse. We had 34 cows and a big black bull named Clark, as in Clark Kent. He looked like Superman, you know, muscly and buff, you know, “Are you talking to me?”

• Tom, there is a quality of humor in your work that I think a lot of people find very easy to connect with.

Just because something has a sense of wit to it does not mean that it’s not serious.

• It also means that people are picking up on the way you play with irony, and with people’s assumptions.

I love to laugh, and I love making people laugh. It’s easy to be silly, but it’s difficult to be witty.

If you’re a writer, an artist, a dancer, or whatever form of creativity that you have, the thing to remember is who you are; you just have to be who you are.

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Night Watch, 2021 Oil and acrylic on canvas, 60" x 48" 5

Young Panda, 2016-2021 Oil and acrylic on canvas (with goldleafing by Nancy Reymer), 36" x 48" 6

Black Velvet, 2021 Oil and acrylic on canvas, 60" x 48" 7

Santa Fe Opera, 2021 Oil and acrylic on canvas, 36" x 48" 8

Cleopatra's Favorite Horse, 2021 Oil and acrylic on canvas, 48" x 60" 9

Curious Fox, 2021 Oil and acrylic on canvas, 30" x 40" 10

Spanish Bull, 2021 Oil and acrylic on canvas, 48" x 60" 11

Fancy Boot, 2010 Oil and acrylic on canvas, 48" x 36" 12

Golden Garden, 2021 Oil and acrylic on canvas, 60" x 48" 13

Mr. Bluebird on My Shoulder, 2018 Oil and acrylic on canvas, 38" x 48" 14

Survivor, 2021 Oil and acrylic on canvas, 36" x 48" 15

My Redheaded Friend, 2016 Oil and acrylic on canvas, 36" x 48" 16

Flamingos by the Lily Pond, 2021 Oil and acrylic on canvas, 48" x 36" 17

Young Prince of Tigerland, 2018 Oil and acrylic on panel, 24" x 18" 18

Snow Princess, 2018 Oil and acrylic on canvas, 32" x 50" 19

Tiger Eyes, 2021 Oil and acrylic on canvas, 48" x 60" 20

Florida - 1955, 2021 Oil and acrylic on canvas, 48" x 72" 21

Big Baby, 2021 Oil and acrylic on canvas, 60" x 48" 22

Remember Cabo, 2021 Oil and acrylic on canvas, 48" x 36" 23

Foxy Lady, 2021 Oil and acrylic on panel, 30" x 24" 24

Pretty Boy, 2021 Oil and acrylic on canvas, 48" x 60" 25

Chrysler Building Observer, 2021 Oil and acrylic on canvas, 36" x 48" 26

Tom Palmore Born: Ada, Oklahoma, 1945 Education: 1967-69 Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts 1965-66 North Texas State University, Denton, TX 1963-65 University of Nevada, Reno, NV Selected Solo Exhibitions: 2021 LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe, NM 2019 LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe, NM 2018 LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe, NM 2016 LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe, NM 2014 LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe, NM 2013 Astoria Fine Art, Jackson Hole, WY 2012 LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe, NM 2011 Price College of Business, Norman, OK 2010 LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe, NM 2009 Sorrel Sky Gallery, Durango, CO 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 1992 Elaine Horwitch Gallery, Santa Fe, NM 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 1981 Elaine Horwitch Galleries, Santa Fe, NM

1979 1977

1976 1975 1973

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Elaine Horwitch Galleries, Santa Fe, NM Paint By Numbers, Janet Fleischer, Philadelphia, PA Marion Locks Gallery, Philadelphia, PA Louis K. Miesel Gallery, New York, NY Trophies, Bernard Dannenberg Galleries, Philadelphia, PA Gorillas, Midgets, & A Couple of Dogs, Marion Locks Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

Selected Museum Exhibitions: 2020-21 Southwest Rising: Contemporary

Art and the Legacy Of Elaine

Horwitch, Tucson Museum of Art,

Tucson, AZ; New Mexico Museum

of Art, Santa Fe, NM 2015 Colors of the Southwest, New

Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe, NM 2014 Today’s West, High Museum of Art,

Atlanta, GA 1994 Philadelphia Academy of Arts, US

Artists’ Exhibition, Philadelphia, PA 1985 Alumni Show, Pennsylvania

Academy of the Fine Arts,

Philadelphia, PA, Artists of Santa

Fe, Dallas Theater Center, TX 1983 The West as Art, Palm Springs

Desert Museum, Palm Springs, CA

The Panhandle Collects, Amarillo

Arts Center, Amarillo, TX 1980 American Realism Since 1960,

Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts,

Philadelphia, PA 1981 Philadelphia Museum of Arts, PA 1978 Decade of American Painting,

Whitney Museum of American Art,

NY Art in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Academy of the Fine Arts,

Philadelphia, PA 1977 The American Family, Philadelphia

Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA

The Presence and Absence in 27

1976

1974

Realism, State University College, Potsdam, NY Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY Contemporary Portraits, Lancaster Community Art Center, Lancaster, PA The American Wing, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA Aviation, The New York Cultural Center, NY; Minneapolis Institute of Art, 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

Selected Public Collections: Albuquerque Museum of Art, Albuquerque, NM Allentown Museum of Art, Allentown, PA Atlantic Richfield Center for Visual Arts, Atlanta, GA Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN National Museum of Wildlife Art, Jackson, WY New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe, NM New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, Philadelphia, PA Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ Princeton University, Princeton, NJ Smithsonian Institution Washington, DC St. Louis Art Museum, St Louis, MO Tucson Museum of Art, AZ Whitney Gallery of Western Art at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody, WY Whitney Museum of Art, New York, NY

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Railyard Arts District | 1613 Paseo de Peralta | Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 | 505.988.3250 www.lewallengalleries.com | contact@lewallengalleries.com © 2021 LewAllen Contemporary, LLC 30 Artwork © Tom Palmore