Brooklyn-based artist Kyle Thurman is recognised for his drawing projects which often reconsiders stereotypes associated with masculinity and the male body through depictions of soldiers and athletes.
Read MoreThurman holds a BA in Film Studies and Visual Arts from Columbia University (2009) and an MFA in painting from Bard College (2016). Between 2011 and 2012, he was a guest student at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf in the classes of Christopher Williams and Peter Doig.
Thurman's drawings in charcoal, graphite, oil pastel, or pastel often appear incomplete, with portions of the figures or backgrounds left uncoloured, pointing to the fleeting nature of the moments they capture.
Kyle Thurman's 'Suggested Occupation' series of works, begun in 2015, consists of drawings featuring tender, intimate, or dynamic representations of soldiers and athletes.
Young athletic men are the main subjects of these works, which often portrays them as vulnerable and gentle, in contrast to the machismo conventionally associated with masculinity and, in particular, men in the military or sports.
In Suggested Occupation 13 (2016–2018), for example, a young man dressed in a bulletproof vest is sound asleep while seated, with his hands on his lap. The overall pink tone of the drawing, permeating the man's white shirt and parts of his face, accentuates the softness and tenderness of his respite.
The charcoal and pastel drawing Suggested Occupation 23 (2018) depicts another intimate scene, in which a young man is entangled within the arms of another. Their short haircuts may evoke their occupation in the military, yet the sternness associated with soldiers as reproduced by the media is nowhere to be seen.
In his solo exhibition A Lonely Butcher at New York's Off Vendome in 2016, Thurman presented his drawings of young men alongside yarn and sculptural works.
Based on images sourced from news articles, many of the drawings in the show reflect the artist's interests in the human capacity to empathise with strangers they encounter through the media. The exhibition included images of young men sleeping by themselves or in small groups, concentrating on something off the canvas, or engaging in other ordinary and intimate activities.
Kyle Thurman's work has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions.
Select solo exhibitions include Catfish, with Hadi Fallahpisheh, Sophie Tappeiner, Vienna (2020); Error Erred, David Lewis Gallery, New York (2020); Like Crazy Nature, Central Fine, Miami (2018); A Lonely Butcher, Off Vendome, New York (2016); and Kyle Thurman, Room East, New York (2013).
Select group exhibitions include Things... Things Fall Apart, David Lewis Gallery, New York (2021); A Possible Horizon, De La Cruz Collection, Miami (2020); Whitney Biennial 2019, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2019); Kitnick & Thurman, Front International: Digital Infinity: Cleveland Triennial (2018); Kitnick & Thurman, Parapet Real Humans, St Louis (2016); and On Kindness: Jacob Kassay & Kyle Thurman, MOCA: Museum of Contemporary Art in Tuscon, Arizona (2014).
Kyle Thurman's website can be found here and his Instagram can be found here.
Sherry Paik | Ocula | 2021
