| Spotlight, Roy Thurston, 2006 Even as a child growing up in Maine, Roy
Thurston always knew he wanted to be a Westerner. Even as a child, he
knew he wanted to be an artist. Today, as an internationally recognized
painter active in the L.A. art world, Thurston has achieved both those
goals and more.
Thurston's artistic interests and abilities are broad. His paintings
reflect the precision and technical virtuosity of an engineer's mind on
the one hand, and a pure love of color and its many possibilities for
evoking emotion on the other. The son of a famous aircraft designer,
Thurston has long been interested in industrial materials and machinery.
Besides collecting old trucks, he has also amassed an impressive array
of industrial machines, which he uses to manufacture the metal supports
for his paintings. Materials for these supports range from shaped or
milled aluminum panels to large chunks of honeycomb aluminum. Thurston
originally began using honeycomb aluminum after he found sheets of it in
the Lockheed salvage yard; he cites the ready availability of a wide
variety of materials as one of the reasons he enjoys living in Los
Angeles.
Technical expertise and a reputation for meticulous work led to an
unusual commission for Thurston this year: he was selected by the Los
Angeles County Museum to build and install an exact replica of an
interior space (including furnishings) from the Pavillon L'Esprit
Nouveau by Le Corbusier for the museum's show, L'Esprit Nouveau: Purism
in Paris, 1918-1925. The exhibit opened in April.
But while all of Thurston's work reflects his precision and technical
fluency, this is not to say that it appears mechanical or dry. On the
contrary, his careful construction and the subtle refinement of his
paintings evoke an emotional response that flows naturally out of the
contained intensity of his technique. Thurston is in love with color,
and his paintings are vivid presences that engage the viewer in an
active encounter.
This emotional quality has been recognized and valued by discriminating
collectors. Thurston's work is included in two preeminent Italian
collections, the Panza di Biumo Collection in Milan and the Berlingieri
Collection in Rome. From the Renaissance to the present day, the Italian
art world has been particularly appreciative of an artist's ability to
combine the best of scientific precision and emotional power. It is
fitting that much of Thurston's work has found a home there. |