Taos Characters Volume V

Followed by Pecha Kucha Night sounds like an evening not to be missed!

When I heard that Paul O’Connor (of award winning Taos Portraits fame), and Matt Thomas had teamed up for this collab, I was excited to say the least.

What a great way to start our summer season – introducing both the town and visitors to some of our most interesting and talented residents! In a town known for its colourful characters, it’s got to be a tough job narrowing it down to a few.

But they did it, and some of the faces in the portraits on show at the Encore Gallery at 5pm tomorrow evening will come to life on the TCA’s stage two hours later. (Not including all those seen here: Izumi Yokoyama, Christina Sporrong, Erin Currier and Matt Thomas himself.) However O’Connor will present.

These two men are both accomplished artists in their own right and the fact that they pour so much of their energy into promoting others does not go unnoticed.

I thought I’d ask both Matt and Paul a few questions (the same ones), about this event and how it came about. Their responses follow.

1) How did this show come about ?

Paul: This show came about as far as I can remember over diner at Matt and Richard’s house... Tizia, myself and various dogs of ours were enjoying a dinner together when someone hatched the idea for combining my next ‘volume’ of Taos Characters’ with the next ‘volume’ of Pecha Kucha… it sounded good, so here we are!

Matt: I agree with with Paul wrote. The opportunity to show the work in the Encore was available AND to have a Pecha Kucha was too good to pass up!

2) Is there any kind of theme besides the portraits and people?

Paul: The theme of my portraits is somewhat like James Taylor songs, they all sound about the same but different lyrics. It’s actually a project that I started 29 years ago and it has evolved to some degree but essentially remains the same: making portraits of the Taos Art Scene.

3) What are you individually up to besides?

Paul: I’m mostly doing sculpture and traveling between Los Angeles and New York hustling my works.

Matt: I have been all Harwood for the Summer exhibition openings…and now I’ll be back to focusing on PASEO and our recent call(s)…We are currently contacting with a great line-up of artists and are excited to see the ‘water and acequia’ themed artists.