Tom McKinley

Berggruen Gallery is proud to announce an exhibition of recent paintings by Tom McKinley. This show marks the artist's ninth solo exhibition with the gallery. The exhibition will be on view from August 1 through September 19, 2024. The gallery will host a reception for the artist on Thursday, August 1 from 5 to 7 PM.

Featuring paintings from various series, the works showcased in Tom McKinley depict luxury architecture and idyllic landscapes. Open-air homes adorned with iconic art and designer furniture stand against fields of luscious greenery or endless crystalline seas, demonstrating the artist's lifelong fascination with contemporary architecture. Devoid of figures, McKinley's paintings act as celebrations of design and architectural achievement rather than documentation of human habitation. While McKinley's paintings emphasize the tranquility and harmony generated by precisely arranged interiors and architecture, moments of surrealism and absurdity occasionally arrive unexpectedly, such as the crown in Mid July and the floating moon of Moon on a Lake, showcasing the artist's imaginative approach to hyperrealism.

McKinley's newest paintings transition from depictions of interiors or architecture into pure landscape. In Morning August 1st, the bows of fifteen boats point toward the open expanse of a body of water as rolling hills drape the scene's outer edges. A scenic horizon rises above the water, mirroring the pattern of its light. Much like his architectural paintings, Morning August 1st demonstrates a profound talent for creating visual unity that is apparent throughout McKinley's career, now updated to a include sublime vantage.

Tom McKinley was born in Bay City, Michigan and was educated in both the United States and Europe. Beginning at the Goddard College in Vermont, he continued his education overseas in England at the Falmouth School of Art in Falmouth, the Ravensbourne College of Art in London, and Brighton Polytechnic in Brighton. McKinley currently lives and works in Oakland, California.