Daryl Thetford: New gallery show at The Arts Company, May 6-26.

‘Art Guitar’ Inkjet on aluminum. ©Daryl Thetford

NASHVILLE. One of The Arts Company’s top selling artists will present new work at the gallery in May.

‘Contemporary Narratives: A Painterly Series by Daryl Thetford’ will open during the First Saturday Art Crawl on May 6 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. The exhibit runs through May 26.

Daryl Thetford, a Chattanooga-based artist, works in a mixed media of aluminum and coated ink jet prints, often with a content focused on man’s interaction with metaphor and media. His work offers immediate connection with ordinary forms and ‘narratives’ while bringing to them layers of nuance and interest. Thetford has catalogued and clipped the urban world for years, though he grew up in rural Bradford, Tennessee.

Where Thetford’s subjects vear from his iconic guitars, bicycles, or city capes, his human figures show a mastery of gesture.

The human figures are not always comfortable in their relationship to Thetford’s intricate and color-rich urban ‘scapes’—which are more psyche than landscapes— and that is part of the compelling revelation of these ‘narratives.’

While not ‘comfortable,’ Thetford’s figures reveal an attempt at ‘contemplation.’ His archetypal figures are shown in relationship to each other, as well as to broad constallations of ideas, even a darker ‘information age’ bombardment. This artist’s biography notes his first career was in counseling and that he counts Carl Jung as an influence.

The Arts Company recently celebrated its 20th Anniversary and is both anchor and advocate for Nashville’s 5th Avenue of the Arts.

First Saturday Art Crawl Downtown, presented by 5th Avenue of the Arts, is a monthly visual arts event in downtown Nashville that draws thousands of participants. On every First Saturday, an alliance of art galleries and museums collectively invite the public to explore the local art scene. Admission is free.