Figure drawing: An Exploration of Light and Shadow, Structure, and Form Modeling

Demonstration by Dan Everett Thompson

In 2001, at only 29 years of age, Dan Thompson was awarded the Grand Prize for a self-portrait entered in the American Society of Portrait Artists competition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Thompson´s painting, a riveting and introspective image, was chosen as the best from a field of works submitted by more than 600 artists. "It´s great to work so hard to acquire the knowledge and skills and search for your own unique vision and then receive acknowledgement and respect from your peers," Thompson says.

Born in 1972 in Virginia, Dan Thompson has always been interested in the human figure while earning degrees in fine art from the New York Academy of Art and the prestigious Corcoran School of Art in Washington, D.C. Additional honors include two Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grants, The Stobart Foundation Grant and the Walter Erlebacher Award from the New York Academy of Art.

Viewers of Thompson´s paintings are immediately confronted by the unusual palette resulting from the artist´s use of black lights, colored bulbs and daring depictions of shadows. "Traditionally the subjects of paintings have been put in a kind of arbitrary light with the values and colors determined by the figure  Thompson says,  color, in other words, has followed form.  In an effort to break out of a traditional path of painting, this young painter admits that his "lighting is unusual, but it´s not arbitrary, and it doesn´t follow form." Rather, he insists, that the forms in his paintings follow light, in a sense, because the lighting determines what form the subject takes and what colors are to be revealed.

Whether through his sought after self-portraits, or his elegantly composed still life works, what Dan Thompson wants to achieve are works that are not reliant on certain repetitious lighting situations. "That kind of stasis inevitably results in a repetition of the same colors—the same flesh tones for every subject," he says. In his paintings, Thompson tries to "weave" the nature of the light together with the nature of the subject. "I believe," he emphasizes, "that the relationship of light to subject matter is crucial." This is clearly evident in Thompson´s canvases as heroic images are bathed in what one could call "heroic lighting" and more somber works are awash in more subdued lighting.

The vitality of Dan Thompson´s paintings is a result of the artist´s open embrace of the challenge of producing what may seem to be the impossible. But with a foundation of knowledge and the recognition that the learning process never ends, virtually anything is possible for this bright, young talent.
Constantly trying to refine his visual language, Dan Thompson journeys through an artistic life creating what viewers see as nothing less than visual poetry on canvas.

Portfolio

Study for "The Oath" Graphite on paper 18" x 12.5"	Del Carmen Oil on Canvas 50" x 35"	Studio Light Remembrance Oil on Linen 32" x 24"	Meditation Oil on Linen 32" x 24"