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BIOGRAPHY
Bruce Thorn was born on Chicago’s Southside in 1952. He grew up during an era when kids hung out together in real time and the personal was of significance. Surrounded by the civil rights movement, violent riots, anti-war protests, widespread police brutality and the 1960’s cultural revolution, children were taught to hide under school desks in preparation for imminent Russian nuclear attack. During the April, 1968 Chicago riots, which followed the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis, Mayor Daley ordered police to “shoot to kill.” That August, at the Democratic Conventions, the Mayor directed uniformed goon squads to beat protestors while the whole world was watching events unfold in real time on television. Thorn found solace in drawing and decided to become a painter while a teenager. From the beginning, his artwork reflected the intensity, complexity and introspection of the times.
Visits to the Art Institute of Chicago were some of his most memorable childhood experiences. Works by Ivan Albright, Rembrandt, El Greco, Goya, Dali, Jackson Pollock, deKooning, Matisse and the Impressionists, along with Buddhist, Native Indian, African and Japanese art made huge impressions and elevated the significance of the arts in Thorn’s world view. The Chicago Field Museum of Natural History, the Oriental Institute of Chicago and the Museum of Science and Industry were also favorite destinations, incredible sources of inspiration for many of his early drawings and paintings.
Bruce has traveled and painted in Canada, Africa and Europe. An international perspective is evident in his approach to art and life. This is an artist who invites exploration, change, different voices and viewpoints. While acknowledging the significance of place for its role in the formation of character, Thorn’s artwork actively seeks outside influences, continual growth and a curious look into the unknown. Thorn also lived for ten years in Oregon, where the natural environment and old growth forests had a huge impact on his thinking. He became an avid hiker and wilderness back packer, bringing along paints and poems far back into the Siskiyou, Coastal and Cascade mountains. The mystery, balance and immense force the natural world became his points of departure and of return, the dynamo and theme of his artwork.
Thorn earned a B.F.A. from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1975 and an M.F.A. from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1987. He has maintained a vibrant art practice throughout his life. His works have been exhibited in the United States, Czechoslovakia, Canada and the Netherlands.