TOBE HARVEY

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Tobe Lee Harvey

Seeking personal space, Harvey creates rooms of tension and mystery. In his paintings, the artist positions a recognizable form, such as a table or a ladder, in an environment surrounded by abstract signs and opposing colors. Through delicate gestures of paint and string, he connects these seemingly disparate objects, creating a sense of interaction. They seem to act as story books upon which viewers may project their own fantasies and desires. More recently, he has adopted delicate pieces of furniture, chairs, commodes, and tables as his icons of "reality" that are then surrounded by the type of emblems used in comic books to indicate action and sound. The inclusion of contrasting emblems of high art such as the Louis XVI styled furniture and pop culture's iconography for "Kerpow!" or "Blammo!" reveals the sources that inspire the artist, yet they do not determine the overall interpretation of the work. Harvey provides a series of signs within a highly structured aesthetic environment, but permits the audience to assemble the resulting narrative.