Tom Colcord’s Tournesol Award Exhibition ’The Maximalist’ officially opened Sunday June 26th in the Project Space at Headlands Center for the Arts. There are over 60 pieces in the substantial space, with some large paintings commanding attention across the room and others requiring more intimate inspection. As a recipient of the prestigious Tournesol Award, he’s had a studio at the Headlands for the past year while showing in San Francisco. I’ve been following Colcord’s work since his time at Indiana University, Bloomington.
To contextualize this exhibition, there are two articles published during the time of his residency that are very informative, one that made the cover of SF Weekly and the other an interview on 48 Hills. There are a few terms the viewer should be aware of to understand Colcord’s work; every label has a history of debate which it carries with it. The first is maximalism, which is a literary and visual arts movement defined by excess (more is more), elaboration of detail, sensuality, luxury, and fantasy. Colcord is clearly a maximalist. The second term is magical realism which is a literary and visual arts genre that presents a real world with varying degrees of fantastical elements. This second term is helpful in considering Colcord’s work in total, conceptually. The third is surrealism, which is a cultural movement intended to allow the unconscious mind to express itself bypassing the logic of everyday life. I would argue that Colcord is not a surrealist in presentation, but is more interested in it as a vehicle for process.
“In all my work, I’m talking about how our perceptions are subjective,”
- Colcord, SF Weekly
An important distinction to make in contrasting the terms is where surrealism is often explicitly from the inner world, magic realism places the burden of proof on the viewer to determine where the line of probability is. I think rather than try to build a bridge between Colcord and Dali or Magritte (even though it's tempting stylistically), it would be more fruitful to compare him to Bruce Naumann’s connection to surrealism as mentioned in the 1967 San Francisco interview. I think it’s more important to keep in mind Naumann and the dadaists' approach to objects when considering Colcord’s approach to the framework of his paintings. Tom isn’t so much interested in depicting objects he paints surrealistically, the object reality of his paintings is surreal.
On first encounter the display of work in the over 1,600 sq. ft exhibition space offers an abundance of work for the viewer to be drawn into. Colcord is very facile, and he has given visitors a copious amount to consider for having been there for a year. The plein air pieces and collages are usually smaller and display his sensitive touch. The larger pieces invite the viewer into a sense of grandeur represented by architectural conventions or as mystical distillations of nature that borders on the cosmic. Another sense of curiosity develops when considering the exhibition as a whole.
‘Approaching the Nature House’ Oil on canvas 12” x 12” 2022
There is arguably nothing more real to an observational painter than a mark representing a tree that is correctly measured and the convincing value and color. Many plein air and observational painters single mindedly pursue a fidelity to reality, facing the truth in their practice that decisions need to be made on the 2D surface that are inventions other than the 3D world they are depicting. In the exhibition he places observed landscape paintings next to windows that give view to the scene represented. It's a confident move to display one's work in direct sight of the subject matter one is depicting. This show is not about objective depictions of reality, which Colcord skillfully moves through. Colcord’s plein air works lay the ground for the experience of magical realism by showing the strength of his construction in relation to what’s out there. An argument could be made about the merits of the plein air pieces in relation to the likes of Corot, but you become sequestered off from the larger project. Could he render more details? Yes, but he’s not a devotee to realism in all of its components.
‘Mill Valley’ Oil on board 4” x 8” 2022
The open space of the exhibition allows for an abstract comparison of shape and color between the smaller and larger works. It creates a connection. Because it’s a maximalist show, I’m not sure essentialist shape comparison has the capacity to carry and connect the content of the show in its entirety. If the connection between the pieces isn’t spelled out, maybe it’s up to us to decide what’s ‘real’ and what’s not. Regardless, the quality of the large pieces hold their own. Paintings like ‘Lunar Dasein’ and ‘My Thoughts Are Not Mine’ are intensely developed. They are expressions of the fact that all of the content that is bouncing inside Colcord’s head is thoughtfully processed within one image. In these larger pieces Colcord experiments more broadly with abstract mark making. Abstraction in itself is a way to enter into another world, but it only acts as such intermittently in Colcord’s work. Should we appreciate distinctly abstract passages in his paintings as pure material, or are they beckoning us to question the magical and surreal in our reality?
‘Lemon Liminal’ detail
At the same time Bruce Naumann was channeling Dada in the bay area, Lucy Lippard was articulating how post-minimalists were incorporating sensuous and exotic elements of surrealism into their non-objective art. There are absolutely ways in which abstract material elements can help bind a body of work through the vehicle of surrealism.
‘My Thoughts Are Not Mine’ and ‘They’re Here…’
‘The Maximalist’ allows for an open read. Being an artist is often mysterious. I think to move forward as an artist, you have to entertain a degree of openness with play, even a sense of exploration. I'm compelled by Colcord’s paintings because he wants to see the magic in reality, and I’d say that’s a genuine search that has held true for the past decade. I believe he wants to take us on the journey. The rigor of this maximalist’s exploration is dynamic, inviting, and calls for interpretation in abundance.
‘Lunar Dasein’ Oil on canvas 60” x 40” 2022
The exhibition closes Sunday July 17th. There is an Instagram live walkthrough with Tom Colcord and critic Glen Helfand on July 7th.
https://www.headlands.org/event/online-tournesol-exhibition-walkthrough/