Denyse Thomasos: just beyond

One of the finest painters to emerge in the 1990s, the late Trinidadian-Canadian artist Denyse Thomasos (1964-2012) left an indelible, yet frequently overlooked, mark on contemporary painting. This career retrospective brings together more than 50 paintings and works on paper, many rarely seen, to show how she challenged the limits of abstraction, infusing personal and political content onto her canvases through the innovative use of formalist techniques. Through pattern, scale, and repetition, Thomasos conveys the vastness of events, such as the transatlantic slave trade, without exploiting the images of those who were most affected.

Organized chronologically, the exhibition features sections devoted to the artist’s primary areas of research, illustrated with major works on loan from museums and private collections in Toronto, Montreal, and New York City. Working closely with her family and gallerist, the curators have supplemented the exhibition with sketches, photographs, and documentary footage of Thomasos working in her studio.

Organized by the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto and the Remai Modern, Saskatoon, and curated by Michelle Jacques, Head of Exhibitions and Collections/Chief Curator, Remai Modern; Sally Frater, Senior Curator, Remai Modern; and Renée van der Avoird, Associate Curator, Canadian Art, Art Gallery of Ontario. Circulated with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.

About the Artist

Born in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, the acclaimed painter Denyse Thomasos was raised in Toronto and spent most of her professional career in Philadelphia and New York City. Thomasos earned a BA in Painting and Art History from the University of Toronto in 1987. She attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 1988 (Maine, US) and the following year completed her MFA in Painting and Sculpture, Yale School of Art, Yale University (Connecticut, US). Throughout her career, she attended various residencies, such as the Ucross Foundation Artist Residency in 2000, in Ucross (Wyoming, US) and the Bogliasco Foundation Artist Residency in 2003 (Genoa, Italy). She won numerous prestigious awards, including the Guggenheim Fellowship Prize in 1997; the Joan Mitchell Foundation award in 1998; and the New York Foundation for the Arts award in 2008; as well as grants from both the Canada Council for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. Her work has been collected by private collectors, as well as major corporate and public institutions, including Rutgers University (New Jersey, US); Canada Council Art Bank (Ottawa, ON); Bank of Montreal (Toronto, ON); Banque Nationale du Canada (Montréal, QC); Art Gallery of Guelph (ON); Oakville Galleries (ON); the Hart House Collection at the University of Toronto (ON), and private collections throughout Canada and the United States. When Thomasos died tragically in 2012, she was at the height of her career, with major museum shows, a full professorship, New York and Toronto gallery representation, and many prestigious awards and residencies.

Images
Group listing:
Denyse Thomasos. Metropolis, 2007. Acrylic, charcoal, porous-point marker on canvas, unframed: 214 x 335.6 x 3.5 cm. Art Gallery of Ontario. Purchased with the assistance of the Toronto International Art Fair 2007 Opening Night Preview, and with the Financial Support of the Canada Council for the Arts Acquisition Assistance Program, 2008. © The Estate of Denyse Thomasos and Olga Korper Gallery. 2007/241

Main banner:
Denyse with Babylon in her NYC Studio (detail), 2005. © The Estate of Denyse Thomasos and Olga Korper Gallery, Photo: The Estate of Denyse Thomasos.

Gallery:
Image 1: Denyse Thomasos, Maiden Flight (detail), 2010. Acrylic on canvas, 152.4 x 182.9 cm, Art Gallery of Ontario. © The Estate of Denyse Thomasos and Olga Korper Gallery. Photo: Craig Boyko.
Image 2: Denyse Thomasos. Metropolis, 2007. Acrylic, charcoal, porous-point marker on canvas, unframed: 214 x 335.6 x 3.5 cm. Art Gallery of Ontario. Purchased with the assistance of the Toronto International Art Fair 2007 Opening Night Preview, and with the Financial Support of the Canada Council for the Arts Acquisition Assistance Program, 2008. © The Estate of Denyse Thomasos and Olga Korper Gallery. 2007/241