Karen Thompson Art.com

KarenThompsonArt.net

Specializing in Photographic Illustration and Fine Art

This work represents particular moments of my life as a Midwestern girl. An artist’s environment plays a key role in his or her choice of subject matter, themes and basically the spirit of a body of work. Having lived in seven mid western states I feel my environment has been with me without me even realizing it. My love of the mid west and the feeling of comfort it gives me has molded my image making sensibilities.

A fellow artist once said to me "You like the three B’s too, don’t you?" When I asked who he meant he said, "Why Bosch, Bruegle and Blake, of course." I didn’t realize it until that moment the full depth these three artists have always had on me...not just my work. One of my favorite paintings of all time is Bruegle’s "Children’s Games." When I was fortunate enough to stand in the "Bruegle Room" of the Kunst Historiches Museum in Vienna I felt as if I had come home. Traveling through Germany with my sister and viewing the early Renaissance work of northern European painters was a thrill I will always cherish. Those artists gave us such rich and raw information about the human condition...and it is as vital today as centuries ago. The only difference between contemporary man and late Medieval man is that our clothes are different and our jobs are different. We are shown that man’s needs, fears, loves and desires are timeless. I love that. I feel very connected to the earth this way.

Blake of course was neither a late medieval nor an early Renaissance artist. However, his work holds the truths of the ages...the truths about us and about what we are all seeking in this lifetime. And just like Bosch and Bruegle his images were truly revolutionary in their own time. And so I embrace these artists and thank Remedios Varo while I’m at it for her wonderful and delicious presentation of the quintessential female psyche. When I see her work, it is as if she had read my mind.

These artists are my inspiration. The people I love are my muses. And my own personal view of life as I see it is my story. My story is no more special than anyone else’s stories. I just feel fortunate that I can deliver my message about life as I see it in galleries where viewers will come and hopefully they may even go away feeling as though someone read their mind.

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