Thomas Buildmore, Terence Netter and stikman “Potentia Trium” Woodward Gallery

Woodward Gallery’s exhibition unites Artists Thomas Buildmore, Terence Netter and stikman in Potentia Trium. The power of three offers a compelling close to the year. Stemming from different backgrounds, experience and ages their kindred spirits communicate a more powerful expression of their vision.

Thomas Buildmore approaches his art like a chef creates a new dish. He thinks of what he has enjoyed in his past and reinterprets with the available tools of his kitchen, savoring a uniquely recognizable flavor. When the fire is hot, little time is wasted as his ingredients mix to fully complete an entrée. Buildmore considers his art as American comfort food with European influences. His mastery of spray paint is the special essence he brings to the table. Taking inspiration from paintings by known masters, Buildmore consciously reconceives work with his colorful flare to develop the recipe for success.

Terence Netter is a former Jesuit priest who entered art with Abstract or Action paintings. By 2006, Netter had become a devotee and practitioner of Zen Meditation. He retired as Dean of the College of Fine Arts at Jacksonville University and was experiencing inner peace in the tranquil surroundings of his farmhouse in the Loire Valley, France. He shifted focus to paint landscapes in a minimalist style in order to capture the special light of the region. These are Netter’s “seeds of contemplation” providing opportunities for viewers to set aside mundane worries and preoccupations, and get in contact with nature in what Wordsworth called “The Great All.” Netter welcomes the viewer into his horizon to experience this inner peace.

The self taught Artist who constructs little men made of sticks, known as stikman, has less of a spiritual cognition, and has an obscure fascination with urban decay. His goal may be to show that everything is ephemeral and nothing stays the same. He believes that art should speak for itself, hence he has maintained an anonymity—and allure—since living in the Germantown section of Philadelphia during college in 1970. He started to build his figurative stick entities in lower Manhattan the next year. Evolution forced by gravity, time and the vast expanse of human activity are interconnected in his work. (The stikman body of work on exhibition is dedicated to the memory of Peter Carroll, a cherished member of the NYC creative community.)

The Potentia Trium is an inspiring, reflective and peaceful Art exhibition that contrasts with our current worldwide unrest.