Ezra Thompson - Artists - FERRARA SHOWMAN GALLERY

Artist Statement

My recent paintings have been concerned with the theatre of memory. In revisiting
memory and the past through the photograph, I am attempting to re-learn the use of
"signs" to understand and communicate reality. Beginning with the snapshot, I select
everyday experiences of life that appear to be instantly unfolding. The initial awkwardness
of the subject is only secondary to my larger concern -- the experience of loss and
exclusion: loss of loved ones, loss of affection, friendship, and innocent joy. In creating
this body of work, there is an attempt to recapture that loss and thus save it from
destruction. It is only through this re-visitation of the photograph in adulthood that one
hopes to ‘fill in’ or at least ‘pick up the pieces.’ The painting thus becomes a true
remembrance of things past.

Biography

Ezra Thompson is an artist and educator living and working in Greater New York.
He completed his BFA at the Cooper Union in New York City. Under the tutelage of the
late Dr. Hugh J. Silverman, his graduate project at Stony Brook University focused
primarily on the Self-Portrait, Narcissism, and the Other. He has served as a Curatorial
Intern at the Whitney Museum of American Art and held a position as a Conservation
Assistant at the Frick Collection’s Art Reference Library in New York City.

Thompson was awarded an artist grant with residency at the Vermont Studio Center in
Johnson, Vermont, Aljira Emerge in Newark, NJ, and received a fellowship from the
American-Scandinavian Foundation in New York, NY. He has exhibited his paintings
throughout the greater New York/New England area. He is currently an Adjunct Lecturer
at Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, New York.

Curriculum Vitae

Education
2013 MFA Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York
2013 Advanced Graduate Certificate in Art History and Philosophy, Stony Brook University
1999 BFA The Cooper Union, New York, New York
Area(s) of Specialization: Painting, Printmaking, Drawing and Installation
Experience: Museum/Gallery Curation, Library and Textile Conservation/Restoration.

Professional Experience
2022 - present Adjunct Lecturer, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York
2014 - 2022 Adjunct Instructor, Suffolk Community College, Selden, New York
2014 - 2015 Adjunct Instructor, St. Joseph’s College, Patchogue, New York
2011 - 2013 Instructor of Record, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York
2010 Teaching Assistant, Stony Brook University. Stony Brook, New York
2009 Language Instructor, English Instruction, Berlitz, Tokyo, Japan
2002 Gallery Assistant, Greenberg Van Doren Gallery, New York, New York
2000 Conservation Assistant, Frick Art Reference Library, New York, New York
1998 Curatorial Intern, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York
1997 Conservation Assistant, David M. Lantz Art Textiles, New York, New York

Awards and Honors
2024 Dagny A. Hultgreen Award, Greenwich Art Society, Greenwich, CT
2013 Vermont Studio Center, Artist Grant, Johnson, Vermont
2011 Celeste Prize International, Shortlisted, Painting Catalogue selection
2011 ISE Cultural Foundation, Jurors Award, Yuriko Kuchiki, New York, New York
2010 Tuition Scholarship, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York
1996 Tuition Scholarship, The Cooper Union, New York, New York
1995 J. Robert Fisher Memorial Honors Scholarship, Suffolk College, Riverhead, New York
1995 Pi Alpha Sigma, Suffolk College, Riverhead, New York

Exhibitions
2024 Mid-Atlantic New Painting Biennial, UMW Galleries, Fredericksburg, VA (upcoming)
2024 Long Island Biennial, Heckscher Museum of Art, Huntington, New York (upcoming)
2024 NO DEAD ARTISTS, Ferrara Showman Gallery, New Orleans, LA (upcoming)
2024 Prince Street Gallery Juried Show, Prince Street Gallery, New York, NY
2024 107th Annual Juried Exhibition, Bendheim Gallery, juror Ramsay Kolber (Guggenheim), Greenwich, CT
2024 Realism vs. the Abstract, Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, Red Hook, Brooklyn, NY
2023 Faculty Exhibition, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY
2023 Hand Me Down, Gallery 263, curator LaiSun Keane, Cambridge, MA
2015 Faculty Exhibition, Suffolk Community College, Selden, NY
2015 Faculty Exhibition, St. Joseph’s College, Patchogue, NY
2014 Family, New Ohio Theater, curator TJ Witham, New York, New York
2013 Artists Choose Artists, Parrish Art Museum, selected by Robert Wilson, Watermill, NY
2013 22nd Annual Juried Competition, Bowery Gallery, juror Joan Snyder, New York, New York
2013 ISE NY Art Search 2013, juror Nancy Lim (MoMA), New York, New York
2013 MFA Exhibition (solo), Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York
2013 MFA Thesis Exhibition, Staller Center, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York
2013 CAA Annual Exhibition, NYCAMS, juror Barbara Pollack, New York, New York
2012 MFA Exhibition (solo), Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York
2011 NYCoo Gallery, New York, New York
2011 ISE Cultural Foundation, New York, New York
2011 MFA Exhibition (group), Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York
2011 CAA Annual Exhibition, Hunter College, New York, New York
2006 Aljira Emerge, Center for Contemporary Art, Newark, New Jersey
1999 Thesis Exhibition, The Cooper Union, New York, New York
1998 Group Invitational, St. John’s University, Jamaica, New York
1998 Poverty, St. John’s University, Jamaica, New York
Fellowships/Residencies
2013 Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, Vermont
2006 Aljira Emerge, Center for Contemporary Art, Newark, New Jersey
2004 American-Scandinavian Fellowship, The American-Scandinavian
Foundation, New York, New York
1998 Rothenberg Fellowship, The Cooper Union, New York, New York
Lectures
2014 PechaKucha Night Hamptons, Vol. 8, Parrish Art Museum, Watermill, New York
2014 Artist Talk, Artists Choose Artists, Parrish Art Museum, Watermill, New York

Bibliography
2012 Studio Visit Magazine, Volume 18, juror Trevor Richardson, pgs. 210-11
2011 Celeste Prize International, Painting Catalogue selection

Collections
The Cooper Union, New York, New York
St. John’s University, Jamaica, New York
Olsen Collection, Madrid, New Mexico