The Poetics of Space Painting

Thorpe’s work reveals a meticulous and intensely vivid exploration of the inner life as the only true retreat from the stultifying world of form and offers a window on to a highly personal but culturally situated struggle to reclaim a space in which to articulate the irrational and spontaneous dimensions of the human existence. Born in Margate, England (1981), Thorpe moved as a child to Scotland. Having traveled throughout his early twenties, Thorpe graduated in 2010 from Gray s School of Art in Aberdeen with a First Class Honours degree in Painting. Upon graduating, he has received the Alexandrina McKenzie Legacy and the Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) New Contemporaries Award. At the New Contemporaries 2011 exhibition, Thorpe was awarded the (RSA) Sir William Gillies Bequest and the (RSA) The Skinny Award. His work has most recently featured in Saatchi Gallery Online's top ten weekly paintings and was represented at Art Verona, Italy, in October.