Being “in the zone” for many artists is that alchemical moment when the literal representation of a subject is overwhelmed by the sheer momentum of working spontaneously with materials, marks, form, color and light. This is possibly how I should have started my comments about Thomas Agran the night of his opening here at Campbell Steele this past Thursday.

Looking out at an audience of happy faces, however, I found myself intimidated by the thought of sounding too serious in a moment that demanded a casual, but authoritative sharing of information; and I squandered the perfect moment to speak about work for which I have an unalloyed admiration.

Near Fort Dodge / Oil on Canvas / Thomas Agran

You can, in fact, look at this young man’s aerial landscapes and see passages that are brushed in with a confident facility for line and gesture contrasted with frenetically painted areas exploring form, or with boldly brushed expanses in which the rhythm of marks and luminosity of paint lift the viewer past the artist’s sweeping horizons to the radiant margins of his paintings.

It’s an odd, oxymoronic exercise to talk (or write) about the visual experience. But, it’s also true that well-chosen words can enrich our ability to “see”. Frankly, during Thomas’ opening I did not want to diminish his achievement with the wrong words- and I seemed to be on an unprecedented roll with the “wrong words” as I flippantly referred to him (too often) as a “latter-day Monet”.

With 20/20 hindsight I would allow that the scale, love of fluid, painterly form, and aggressive embrace of abstraction in Thomas’ work evoke the brilliant series of water lily paintings of Monet’s later life. But, it’s important to add quickly that those qualities are refracted through the prism of twentieth and twenty-first century experience. Abstract Expressionism, belonging to a generation that has learned of global warming from its earliest memories, globalization, and the inter-net, together, have all forged the conceptual and visual aesthetic of Thomas Agran.

Perhaps it’s excessive to describe him as a “prodigy”- but I think not. I hope that you’ll make it a point to visit the gallery while we exhibit this remarkable young artist’s work. For those of you who may have wished that I had ventured these thoughts during Thursday night’s opening, I offer my apologies- they just weren’t there yet.