Obscured From View – The Unminding Sky by American Artist Gregory Thielker

As soon as I saw these paintings by New York City based artist Gregory Thielker I knew I wanted to talk about them here. Gregory’s work spans both drawing and painting, as well as sound and installation to speak to our senses and give us a chance to contemplate on the themes that interest him the most. His recent works are more political in nature, such as talking about the wall dividing American and Mexico, but I thought this series titled “The Unminding Sky” shouldn’t be overlooked.

What originally looks like a collection of photography turns out to be a series of paintings that are expertly crafted using oil paints on canvas. Looking at this series it’s almost as if Gregory has taken the image on a camera and later depicted it with paint, using the rain on the windscreen of a car as a filter for the lights and surrounding objects that sit behind. His idea is to investigate how we view shape and colour, as well as the complex manner in which we see varying landscapes.

One of the main points of interest is the illusion in these works, but I also like the thought of distorting our vision and seeing the complexity behind. It’s such a simple series but it’s made me think a lot about shifting from our usual mindset thanks to Gregory depicting a “non-event” of sorts. This is something that happens to all us whilst driving but is never really though of as “paint worthy”. An interesting concept that I urge you to explore in more detail on his website below. This series dates back to around 2006 so it has been an ongoing project ever since. Fascinating.

gregorythielker.com

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