Image courtesy of the artist, Terry Campbell.

Terry Campbell: No Longer in My Hands
April 6 – May 27, 2012 @ BMoCA

Terry Campbell tells of personal experiences and impressions through large-scale figurative paintings. Executed in natural muted hues on vast canvases, their presence induces a sense of somber unease. Although often depicting his friends or relatives, the artist regards these works as self-portraits, documenting his own emotions and memories of specific situations.

The characters are set to navigate austere interiors and barren landscapes of an undefined yet specific time and place, tinted with nostalgia. Here, every aspect takes on symbolic meaning – from the people’s pensive expressions and stationary postures, to the dress or costume they are wearing, their position towards objects and each other, and even the implied place the observer assumes in relation to them. But as the meaning of these details is never fully revealed, viewers are drawn to conceive and insert their own narratives.

Terry Campbell was born in 1982. He lives in Denver and teaches art at Colorow Elementary School in Littleton, Colorado. He holds a Bachelor of Art Education and a Bachelor of Fine Art from Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design, Denver (2005). Campbell is a member of Pirate Contemporary Art, Denver and a Resident Artist at RedLine Denver, where he exhibits regularly. In 2007 he curated the exhibition He Did What? of works by Harry C. Walters at Rhinoceropolis, Denver.