The Lockwood Gallery Presents Modernist Landscape Painter Tony Thompson (1938-2024)

When contemporary landscape painter Tony Thompson moved from NYC to Columbia County in 1989, he was inspired to return to landscape painting after years of being an abstract painter.  Inspired by the lush landscapes of the Hudson Valley and Hudson River School painters such as Gifford, Inness and Kensett,Thompson’s artwork reflects the light and atmosphere of particular times of day and seasons of the year. In his studio, he continued his abstract work while painting landscapes and inevitably began combining the two genres.

The Lockwood Gallery features a collection of paintings by Tony Thompson that beautifully achieve a balance between abstraction and representation with a unique approach he referred to as “Double Landscapes.” Once the landscape was painted, he turned the canvas upside down and repainted the same image. They are not mirror images, as the process invites slight variations in paint handling, form and color. By manipulating the landscape in this way, he is asking the viewer to perceive the subject matter not just as a bucolic landscape but as light, shape, form and texture as if it were an abstract work of art.

The Lockwood Gallery
747 Route 28, Kingston, NY
Saturdays & Sundays | 11 AM – 6 PM
The exhibition runs through May 19 | Closing Exhibit May 19th
845-663-2138

“I mistrust the presumption that interpretation is the effective response to art. It may be that the adaptive function of all the arts is simply to get people to look and listen longer and more carefully and completely. I make things I like to look at. During the process of making the paintings, I looked hard at them. This experience is pleasurable. When I feel they are complete, I continue to look at them, and the pleasure is mixed with satisfaction and joy. Then, it may occur to me that I would like to see what a variation of what I have done would look like. So the process continues.” – Tony Thompson, 2006

Gallery Opening Photos by Terry Dagrosa