Seth Thompson - Collect

Artist:Seth Thompson(Seattle, WA)
Title: Magenta Room, Tomasa Navarro Puente Home, Alamitos, 2003, Mexico
Size:16 x 20"
Print Type: Chromogenic Dye Coupler Print
Price:$600 (print only)

ABOUT THE WORK
"This photograph is part of my project, Poca Luz, that presents the strange beauty of the mountain districts of Catorce and Armadillo, San Luis Potosi State, Mexico. My exploration of this difficult land has challenged my physical strength, changed my understanding of the world, and reshaped my artistic practice, leading me to change my medium from painting to photography. While these photographs are truthful in the common and documentary senses, they aspire to be images that communicate experience and invite contemplation.

The house and church interiors in my series present a kind of oasis or refuge from the harsh environment. Containing images that point to the sacred, they appear to be structured to transport the imagination of the person who enters. House and church share in a common devotional and handmade design, and though they are humble in nature and primitive in material, they may rival in beauty, when transformed into images, the interiors of French modern painting, such as the 1911 Red Studio of Matisse."

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Seth Thompson spent his childhood in the Washington, D. C. area; he has lived in the Pacific Northwest since 1962. He began painting in 1971; in 1993, he started working as a photographer in rural San Luis Potosi state, Mexico. MFA, Painting, 1987; MA, English and Film Criticism, 1976; BA, English, University of Oregon, Phi Beta Kappa. Thompson has exhibited nationally and in Mexico. He has worked on two series of images of small ranches in rural San Luis Potosi State, Mexico since 1994. He has traveled across the counties of Catorce and Armadillo in San Luis by foot, horse, and jeep, photographing inside views of churches, houses, and stores, and making portraits of locals. Seth is an instructor of color photography at Pratt in Seattle.