Fellowship Exhibition: Tom Pappas

April 1 - April 5, 2022
Reception: Friday, April 1, 5 - 7 PM

Techniques of Reversal*

Join us for a Fellowship exhibition by 1990-1991, 2021-2022 Visual Arts Fellow Tom Pappas.

Tom Pappas is a painter working in an intuitive, material-based tradition. Born in Miami, Florida, Pappas received an MFA in Painting from Massachusetts College of Art in 1989. He was awarded a 1990-1991 fellowship at the Fine Arts Work center in 1990-91, as well as residencies at Yaddo, Dorland, VCCA, and Bemis Foundation. From 1995-1999, Pappas was Tenzo (head chef) at the Zen Mountain Center, San Jacinto, CA and authored The Three Bowl Cookbook; Secrets of Enlightened Cooking, published by Carroll & Brown. Pappas was awarded an Elizabeth Foundation grant in 1999., and from 2011-2013, he lived and worked at Meadow Road, Provincetown—FAWC’s long-term residency.  Pappas has traveled extensively and currently lives and works in Ridgewood, NY.

The title, from a fragment by Adorno, refers to my approach to painting. I see my work as belonging to a tradition which runs through the history of art, back to the grottoes (i.e. grotesque), back even to the caves: recognizing something on the irregular surface, following it, losing it, applying paint, removing paint, always doubting about what I’m seeing, the image emerging from an accumulation of steps and missteps.

 * “Where they come closest to truth they sense, with double comedy, that their consciousness is false; that is how a situation that can no longer be reached by reflection is reflected. The whole play is constructed by this technique of reversal.”

-Adorno on characters in Beckett’s Endgame.

Please note: To secure your visit, please email registrar@fawc.org.  We look forward to welcoming you to the Work Center.

The annual Fine Arts Work Center Fellowship welcomes 20 emerging artists and writers to live and work in Provincetown from October 1 – April 30. Fellows receive a modest monthly stipend, intended to offset personal expenses and clear the way for seven months of uninterrupted time and space in which to advance their practice.

We invite you to contribute to our April Fellowship Fund, a month-long initiative to support the extraordinary Fellows who enrich our creative community and go on to shape contemporary culture.