Thomas Birtwistle

Click HERE to read about Thomas Britwhilstle on TheMaineMag.com

Though the origins of the county fair can be traced back to centuries past, Thomas Birtwistle portrays the subject with a decidedly 21st-century inflection. Largely absent of festive attendees, these images concentrate on the colorful visual vocabulary of the fair: garish stuffed animal prizes, concession stands, Osama Bin Laden cans lined up to be shot down by a barrage of BBs. But aside from entertainment and recreation these fairs serve another purpose—the display and celebration of agricultural wonders. The gaze of Birtwistle’s camera is cool and his compositions formal, making them well suited to render perfectly formed and vibrantly colored produce. Cherry tomatoes are tagged and displayed on antiseptic white trays, hinting at the disquieting perfection yielded by modified DNA. A giant white shelf displays the winners of this year’s contest: outsized apples, beets, and green beans are adorned with red and blue ribbons. A caged Buff Polish rooster at the Skowhegan State Fair in Maine is poised with confidence, a natural winner, even if unaware that it is likely headed to the chicken barbecue pictured in another photograph.

Education

Rhode Island School of Design
BFA with honors, Photography, 1991

Haverford College
English

Selected Exhibitions

New Natural History, 2008
Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine

At the Fair, 2007
Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockport
solo exhibition

Maine: The Way Life Is, 2006
Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine

Colors: Contemporary Photography, 2006
Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, Maine

Underexposed, 2006
June Fitzpatrick Gallery, Portland, Maine

Still Life, 2006
Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockport

Photographs-- Recent Work, 2005
Zero Station, Portland, Maine
two-person exhibition