top of page

Michael C. Thorpe
Meandering Thoughts
April 15 - May 29, 2021

Michael C Thorpe at LaiSun Keane

Reviews

logo-bg.jpg
Screen Shot 2021-05-28 at 1.16.11 PM.png
Screen Shot 2021-05-16 at 2.09.22 PM.png
Screen Shot 2021-05-28 at 1.19.46 PM.png
Screen Shot 2021-04-20 at 5.09.08 PM.png
Screen Shot 2021-05-26 at 1.54.18 PM.png

PRESS RELEASE

Meandering /mēˈandəriNG/ - definition: following a winding course.

A meander is a quilting design that is repeated to fill in an area. - Angel Walters, Free Motion Meandering: A beginner’s guide to Machine Quilting, C&T Publishing, Inc., 2017.

LaiSun Keane is pleased to present a solo exhibition of Michael C. Thorpe (b.1993) titled Meandering Thoughts on view at 460C Harrison Ave C8A, Boston MA from April 15 to May 29. 

In February 2020, Michael C. Thorpe opened his breakthrough exhibition at All Too Human, a high fashion boutique located on Newbury Street Boston. It received critical and favorable response from the Boston art community and the public alike and a work was acquired for the MFA Boston's permanent collection. Early in the Covid19 pandemic, Thorpe moved to New York City to focus on  developing  his  artistic  career  and  at  the  same  time,  LaiSun  Keane  added Thorpe as  a  gallery represented artist which culminated in this exciting project.

This exhibition is a statement of Thorpe’s journey; a dream come true yet far from over. The works tell stories of his life through a dream-like lens with humor and introspect. Dreams of traveling to Japan, or  to  play  pro  basketball,  an  imagined  excursion  to  space  and  humorous  takes  on  his  beer consumption and Dick Gregory’s 1968 Presidential run.

We  are  immensely  honored  to  represent  Thorpe  and  proud  to  have  his  first  in person solo  exhibition in Spring.  His  works have  roots  in  American  quilting  which  traditionally  were  made  communally  by women  for  utilitarian  reasons.  He also  draws  from  Gee’s  Bend  quilting  traditions  of  improvisation which  bears  heavy  African  influenced  patterning. Confronting  these  traditions  and  narratives,  he presents his unique image making through creative compositions of shapes and colors.

Michael C. Thorpe was born in New York and grew up in Newton MA. He graduated from Emerson College with a degree in photojournalism and was a basketball player for the college team. His work is in the collection of MFA Boston and this is his second solo exhibition with the gallery.

Click here to read exhibition essay

by ADAM TESSIER, the Barbara and Theodore Alfond Director of Interpretation, MFA Boston

Click here to go to Artist Page

bottom of page