Written by Nicole Gaudier
A statement from the artist:
“I chose this image for its negative space, soft palette, and sense of calm. We can see that the girl in the still is watched by those with the camera and she holds the focus of what feels like an eye-shaped composition. The scene of a solitary child content with her isolation resonated with my own memories of childhood. The lyrics, ‘I know it might seem odd, Cause you’re not the only one, I remember myself as a lonely child, So I was, and you got me wrong,’ from the song ‘October’ by the band Broken Bells, echoed for me when I saw the original photo. Even though I probably had not heard the song in months, once I started painting this piece those words played on a loop in the front of my mind while I experienced extreme longing for the countless hours I spent in the woods by myself in the late 80s behind my house making intricate forts and carving wooden tools to add to my collection.
Shaun Thurston, Pastel Pool, 2013, from the film still Only Lonely When I’m Not Alone, Oil on panel
These were mostly happy times for me, though I’ve often thought that to an outside observer I would’ve appeared as a very lonely child. I painted this piece in two days separated by a week of drying time.
I worked a total of five hours on the whole painting and it felt finished much sooner than I anticipated. I wanted to play with this image and use the unfamiliar oil paints in an explorative way, while pulling the pastel colors closer to the sepia tones typically found in older photographs.”
Shaun Thurston ‘s work Pastel Pool will be in the Our Shared Past exhibition, on view in the Stein Gallery from December 17, 2013 to May 25, 2014.
There will be artist appearances at the Stein Gallery January through April. Each Saturday, artists from the exhibition will be in the Gallery from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Others will make appearances throughout the day on Weaver Free Saturdays, and on Tuesday evenings during the exhibition.
