Bill Thompson

<p>Reddish-brown and blue-gray painted shapes in varying shades create the illusion of a folded standing screen</p>

Bill Thompson

Oxbow, 1995
Pumice in a polymer gel and acrylic paint on four birch plywood panels
Painting
96 in. x 160 in. (243.84 cm x 406.4 cm)
Commissioned in honor of Boris & Adele Magasanik

In his early work, Bill Thompson was engaged with pure painting and formalist concepts exemplified by artists such as Piet Mondrian. His later works are often three-dimensional wall installations composed of glossy, jewel-colored organic forms created with acrylic urethane on epoxy.

Oxbow, Thompson’s large-scale commission for MIT’s Koch Biology Building (Building 68) is constructed from four joined wooden panels. Reddish-brown and blue-gray painted shapes in varying shades create the illusion of a folded standing screen. Thompson’s twenty-two preliminary drawings for the Oxbow painting are on view in Building 68’s café.

Building Number: 68
Accession Number: 1995.010 a-d