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Thomas J Price

Reaching Out (2020), Network (2013)

Silicone bronze

Thomas J Price’s practice engages with issues of representation and perception, playing with material, scale and detail in order to challenge viewers’ expectations. Reaching Out depicts a young woman holding a mobile phone device in her hands. She is a fictional character created from various references to serve as a psychological portrait. This work continues the artist’s theme of balancing experiences of isolation and connectedness, whilst acknowledging the different ways in which technology mediates our lives.

Network shows a young, casually-dressed man looking at his mobile phone. Although the figure exhibits a relaxed posture, his facial expression belies a sense of calm. All of Price’s works share a fascination with people, body language, and expression as well as an exploration of classic modes of western art and his own Jamaican heritage. This work, for example, is traditional in its scale and material, but forward-looking in its aesthetic and meaning. 

The Line has developed a set of learning resources for schools to accompany Reaching Out (2020).

Courtesy the artist

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Biography

Thomas J Price (b.1981, London) studied Sculpture at Chelsea College of Art (2001-04) and received an MA from the Royal College of Art (2004-06). Price has exhibited widely in the UK, including solo shows at the National Portrait Gallery (2016) and Yorkshire Sculpture Park (2014). Price’s first international institution show took place in 2019 at The Power Plant in Toronto, Canada. His work is included in a number of public and private collections including Derwent London, Damien Hirst’s Murderme collection (UK) and the Rennie Collection (Canada). In 2020 Price was commissioned by Hackney Council to honour the Windrush Generation with a public sculpture, which will be placed outside Hackney Town Hall in 2021. Price lives and works in London.

Selected press for Reaching Out:

The Observer, 19 July 2020
The Art Newspaper, 23 July 2020
The Guardian, 5 August 2020
Artnet, 5 August 2020
Evening Standard, 5 August 2020
The Smithsonian, 7 August 2020
The Financial Times, 25 August 2020

Images:
1-3 Vassilis Skopelitis
4 Jeff Moore

WATCH: Thomas J Price introduce Reaching Out

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