Tom Stanley : Scratching the Surface

The Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art at the College of Charleston in Charleston, SC, presents a solo exhibition entitled Tom Stanley: Scratching the Surface. 

On view from May 19 to July 8, 2017, Scratching the Surface features over 60 paintings by Tom Stanley from the past two decades, with most of them produced in the last few years. Stanley is a SC-based painter and Professor and Chair of Fine Arts at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina. His exhibition at the Halsey Institute will offer an examination of his recent abstract work, while also debuting a new body of paintings completed this year.

Over the past several decades, Tom Stanley has utilized sgraffito as a significant component of his abstract paintings. Popular in the Italian Renaissance of the 15th and 16th centuries, sgraffito refers to the practice of scratching a layer of paint to reveal a contrasting layer beneath it. In his geometric abstractions, the sgraffito adds an inherently expressive quality, creating a contrast between the frenzied scratching and his clinically precise lines and forms, which stem from his interest in mechanical drawing. His works also explore the history of painting techniques: beyond sgraffito, his works often contain drips of paint evoking Abstract Expressionism, and his expressive lines recall Surrealist automatic drawing.  

Stanley’s abstractions draw on the forms of the world around him, typically including items like boats, ladders, water towers, and houses. In his recent Vessels series, his canvases riff on the motif of a boat, often portraying one of more such vessels amidst a plane of harried lines and sgraffito. Such a series emphasize the duality contained within his paintings: expressive yet measured, formally-engaged yet conceptually-driven, abstract yet connected to reality. 

About Tom Stanley 
Stanley is an artist and chair of the Department of Fine Arts at Winthrop. He also served as director of Winthrop University Galleries from 1990–2010. Born in Fort Hood, Texas, Stanley grew up in Concord, N.C. He received a BA in Art from Sacred Heart College in 1972. After serving two years alternative service in lieu of induction, he worked in Passaic, N.J., and New York City in the design and wall accessory industry. He received an MA in applied art history and an MFA in painting from the University of South Carolina in 1980, where he also taught relief printmaking and 2D design at maximum security Central Corrections Institute. Stanley has served on the faculties of Arkansas College (now Lyon College) in Batesville, Ark.; Barry University in Miami, Fla.; and Livingstone College in Salisbury, N.C. He also was director of the Waterworks Visual Arts Center in Salisbury. 

About The Halsey Institute 
The Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art at the College of Charleston provides a multidisciplinary laboratory for the production, presentation, interpretation, and dissemination of ideas by innovative visual artists from around the world. As a non-collecting museum, we create meaningful interactions between adventurous artists and diverse communities within a context that emphasizes the historical, social, and cultural importance of the art of our time.

Free and open to the public

Tours: Guided group tours are offered through the Halsey Institute’s Looking to See program. Contact Maya McGauley at mcgauleym [​at​] cofc.edu for inquiries.

For more information: Contact the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art by calling T (843) 953-HICA (4422) or visiting www.halsey.cofc.edu.