For over five decades, Matthew Thomas has developed a career as an artist and art professor, first in Los Angeles, and since 2011 in rural Thailand. In the late 1960s, Thomas began researching Eastern religions and philosophies and later studied Buddhist Tantra, a system of spiritual practice and meditation that has profoundly impacted his life and art. Inspired by his practice of the Buddhist religion, his multimedia works are filled with complex patterns that express his progress toward enlightenment and provide a path for others to experience the same. His unique visual language of sacred geometric abstraction, which integrates a variety of symbolic shapes and colors, explores basic life principles and correlates with the five elements of earth, fire, water, wind, and sky. Since moving to Thailand, Thomas has continued to investigate the relationship between art and the religious philosophies of many cultures, which he believes are all connected to a universal cosmic reality. Matthew Thomas: Enlightenment will feature a site-specific installation and selection of recent paintings that function as visual prayers meant to harmonize humanity and the universe.

Matthew Thomas: Enlightenment was conceived by Mar Hollingsworth, former visual arts curator, and organized by Taylor Renee Aldridge, visual arts curator.

Image:
Matthew Thomas, “Realms of Intention”
Courtesy of the artist and the California African American Museum.