McMaster Gallery presents a new exhibition of South Carolina artist Christian Thee’s scenic designs and maquettes titled “Behind the Curtain.”

The exhibition explores the symbiotic relationship between theater and the visual arts through scenic design. 

Thee, a Columbia native, became interested in set design as a teenager. After graduating from the University of South Carolina and completing post-graduate work at Columbia University, Thee settled in New York to work as a scenic artist. His scenic designs have since traveled the world and have been seen from Broadway to London. McMaster Gallery is very proud to present more than a dozen of the alumni artist’s works, introducing the viewers to an intriguing style called the trompe l’oeil. 

Trompe l’oeil is French term, which translates as “trick the eye,” or “fool the eye.” Christian Thee is a leading practitioner of this painting style. This method mandates a duplication of reality that reaches beyond illusion to delusion, making the viewers question their own perception until the point when it becomes impossible to draw the line between reality and the painting’s three-dimensional optical illusion.

“A trompe l’oeil painting provides an opportunity for a dialogue with the viewer, first luring him into the acceptance of the “reality” before him and then, as an ill-defined sense of the deception dawns, impelling a closer look, and finally an exclamation of surprise,” Thee says.

“I painted a broken strand of pearls on the dining room floor of one client’s home,” he laughs. “At her next party, all the women were grabbing their necks to see if they had lost their jewels.”

Throughout the years Thee developed his own distinctive style of trompe l’oeil by combining the disciplines of architecture and professional stage design. His painting has a romantic touch, an intense attention to detail, and his signature windows which are almost always present in his works.

The South Carolina native became very famous with his magical works and has been commissioned by a list of prestigious art-lovers including Donald Trump, Joan Rivers and a host of four-star hotels, as well as Bergdorf Goodman and Tiffany & Co. His work is part of numerous corporate collections and is included in the permanent collection of the Columbia Museum of Art in South Carolina and the Flint Museum of Fine Art in Michigan. Thee has worked on large scale projects like the 46 foot-long mural for Donald Trump’s Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, and to complete rooms such as The Orientation Gallery at the Columbia Museum of Art. Not surprisingly many of his works grace the homes of South Carolina art collectors as well.

The exhibition will be on view from August 28 through October 2. The artist’s reception will take place on Thursday, August 28 from 5-7 p.m. at McMaster Gallery.

Write comment
Name:
Email:	do not notifynotify
Website:
Title:
UBBCode:	-color-aquablackbluefuchsiagraygreenlimemaroonnavyolivepurpleredsilvertealwhiteyellow -size-tinysmallmediumlargehuge
	Please input the anti-spam code that you can read in the image.

3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."