Enter The Forest at The Darkest Point.
HONG KONG – October 29, 2022 Ora-Ora is pleased to announce a new solo show by UK-born, US-based artist Stephen Thorpe. The title is Enter The Forest at The Darkest Point.
Thorpe’s debut US exhibition, Boundaries of the Soul (2022) was hailed by the New Yorker for its “clamorously beautiful depictions of interiors.” He now returns to Hong Kong, a city where he taught at Savannah College of Art and Design for several years. In this brand-new solo exhibition at Ora-Ora, the paintings are all new, never seen before. Thorpe laboured over them in the summer of 2022, immediately following his sell-out New York show.
The title is a quotation from US mythologist and writer Joseph Campbell, who urges us to “enter the forest at the darkest point, where there is no path.” In so doing, we find what Robert Frost termed the road “less travelled.” We learn to find our bearings, be sincere and true to ourselves, and seek out the light.
In the words of Ora-Ora co-founder and CEO, Henrietta Tsui-Leung, “Stephen Thorpe’s interiors are epic journeys into our real selves. Enter The Forest at The Darkest Point raises the stakes still further, enacting the primeval drama of the forest.” Dr Tsui-Leung continued: “Stephen Thorpe is an exciting talent whose work is tremendously popular with our collectors. Although we have shown Stephen’s paintings twice this year, at Art Basel Hong Kong, and at KIAF in Seoul, we are delighted to be presenting him for the first time in our new Tai Kwun gallery.”
Stephen Thorpe has won acclaim for the exuberance of his opulently furnished interiors, creating a landscape and mood which sees the corner not as a dead end, but the primary catalyst for an honest mental narrative (what the New Yorker termed the “simple drama of a room’s corner.”) In this exhibition, he alludes to the noble tradition of European tapestries, depicting with lavish detail the finely detailed, sinuous luxury of the Gobelin world, creatively transferring woven imagery from thread to paint, and from wall to floor. The vibrancy and power of Thorpe’s interiors are striking from any distance. Small wonder that major art collector and scion of Austrian royalty, Elizabeth von Habsburg, when interviewed by The Art Newspaper in 2022, chose her Stephen Thorpe painting as the one object she would save in a house fire.
Thorpe’s domestic interiors may be considered a stage for drama in the theatre of our minds. In the same way, the forest has always been synonymous with our need to overcome and to prevail in the face of opposing forces, imagined or otherwise. The challenge is to master ourselves and defeat the dark forces within us. In so doing, we seize the chance to become who we really are. The artist is reminded of the legend from ancient Mesopotamia, the Epic of Gilgamesh (circa 2700 BC), a seminal work in the tradition of heroic sagas. Gilgamesh (King of Uruk) first clashes with Enkidu, a wild man created by the gods to stop Gilgamesh from oppressing the people of Uruk. Following a battle, the two become friends and make a six-day journey to the fabled Cedar Forest, where they plan to slay a monster and cut down a sacred cedar. When Enkidu is killed, Gilgamesh undertakes a long and perilous journey to discover the secret of eternal life. Like Thorpe’s paintings, the journeys – both entering the forest to slay the monster and the hero’s mission for immortality – are stories of self-discovery.
With a nod to celebrated European artists such as Frank Auerbach, Thorpe continues his startling, and innovative use of impasto techniques. The paintings’ corners consist of thickly applied oil paint using a squeegee. The surface is then manipulated and distorted to create an unctuous and viscous texture. Could these contours and layers be considered foundations of a new self?
With an eye for drama and surprise, the artist is harnessing colours he has never used before, allowing sought-after shades such as Cobalt Green Deep and Cobalt Blue Turquoise to come to the fore. He makes a deliberate nod to the Renaissance in the rich use of variations of green, purple and red. As a simple key, green may represent the forest and the unknown, purple magic and mystery, and the red representing the danger ahead.
Ora-Ora beckons the visitor to enter the dark realms of the forest, beginning a journey of self-discovery.
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About Stephen Thorpe
Stephen Thorpe was born in Margate, England in 1981. He graduated with an MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art in London and is currently a Professor of Painting at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) in Georgia, USA. Stephen Thorpe is known for his colourful, interior-based paintings, which often include everyday objects from the 1980s or 1990s. The works are a visual manifestation of an ongoing and in-depth self-analysis of the personal and collective unconscious mind – what Carl Jung termed “individuation.” In basic terms, the rooms are the mind. Thorpe’s work presents a rich tapestry of fragmented imagery. As he notes, “both processes – the process of individuation and the process of painting – are aimed at unveiling a deeper truth and understanding of oneself.” He has been the recipient of numerous prizes, including the Basil H. Alkazzi Foundation Scholarship, Saatchi’s Showdown Prize and the Royal Scottish Academy’s The Skinny Award. His work is included in prominent private and museum collections and has been featured in solo and group exhibitions at Saatchi Gallery, London, Denny Dimin Gallery, New York, Copeland Gallery, London, Summerhall, Edinburgh, the Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, as well as with Ora-Ora at Art Basel Hong Kong 2022 and KIAF Art Seoul 2022.
About Ora-Ora
Ora-Ora began in Hong Kong in 2006 and quickly established itself as a force and catalyst for innovation and openness of expression. Academically rigorous and philosophically-minded, our artists embody a fresh spirit of curiosity and enquiry. By interpreting and re-evaluating established frameworks of thought, they pursue unforeseen perspectives on the world around us. Ora-Ora believes in the power of eschewing boundaries and limitations, and combines an esteem for ancient traditions with a passion for the most contemporary and ground-breaking artistic media. Long recognized for our successful development of Asian creative talent, we have grown to represent artists from Asia, Europe and the US. Restlessly broadening our horizons, we continue to develop alliances and partnerships with institutions worldwide to enable discovery of our artists in new environments.
Dr. Henrietta Tsui-Leung, co-founder of Ora-Ora, is also co-founder of the Hong Kong Art Gallery Association, which has played a lead role in nurturing the diverse and thriving art ecosystem in the city.
Enter the Forest at the Darkest Point
A solo show by Stephen Thorpe
24 November, 2022 to 8 January, 2023
Ora-Ora, Tai Kwun, Hong Kong
Media Enquiries
Odetti Tse | Ora-Ora | odetti@ora-ora.com | +852 2167 8735