Thomas Stokes (1934-1993)

Thomas Phelps Stokes was born in New York on March 15, 1934, but spent his formative years in Knoxville, TN and Fort Lauderdale, FL. Returning to the city of his birth in the 1950s, he would emerge the following decade as the last major artist discovered by the famed gallerist and artist Betty Parsons over the course of her storied career.

His color field paintings display a mastery of composition, order, and painterly values. Characterized by luminous fields of delicate color strained in thin layers across their picture planes, Stokes’ works harmonize unbroken surfaces and serene formats. Eschewing the frenetic brushwork that was ubiquitous among his Abstract Expressionist contemporaries, his aesthetic prerogative stresses balance – sustaining gradual, rather than immediate, comprehension. Slyly illusionistic, his paintings also depart from Color Field’s typical allocation of all visual attention to the surface layer of the picture plane. While appearing monochromatic from a distance, a hallmark of Stokes’ interpretation of Color Field practice is the depth that reveals itself as the viewer moves physically closer to the work.

After leaving New York, Stokes spent time living in London, Los Angeles, and Roswell, NM, ultimately settling in Santa Fe in 1986. A significant figure in 20th century abstraction, his works have been exhibited in numerous museums and can be found in significant private collections worldwide. Stokes continued to refine his subtly colored, meditative canvases up to the time of his death in 1993.

Source: LewAllen Galleries