Thaddeus Strode

Thaddeus Strode's vibrant large-scale paintings are universes unto themselves: wild mash-ups of California surf and skateboard culture, Zen philosophy, rock music, literature, film, and comic books".Absolutes and Nothings" marks the artist's first major museum show, presented as part of the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum's Contemporary Projects series. Strode's images draw on a wealth of motifs inspired by a broad range of sources in popular culture, freely combined with the artist's own creations. The strength and visual pleasure of Strode's aesthetic come from his self-reflexive combination of painterly styles and incongruous elements, in which enigmatic texts, phantoms, monsters, and castaways play off one another to produce cryptic – and captivating – fantasies. Including over two dozen full-color images of works from 2001 to the present, as well as essays by Sabine Eckmann, Meredith Malone, and Benjamin Weissman, "Absolutes and Nothings" is a fascinating premier monograph from one of our most vital and exciting contemporary visual artists.


Contents:

Introduction and Acknowledgments
Thaddeus Strode and the Limits of Interpretation – Sabine Eckmann
Castaways, Doppelgangers, and Monsters: Thaddeus Strode's Grotesque Amalgamations – Meredith Malone
His Divine Spark – Benjamin Weissman

Checklist of the Exhibition
Supplemental Illustrations
Biography and Bibliography
Lenders to the Exhibition
Contributors