Meet Dempsey Thomas | Multi-media Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dempsey Thomas and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dempsey, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
I think that risks are integral to the creative process. Just the act of pursuing art in any kind of serious capacity is inherently risky. Unlike most traditional careers, there’s no guaranteed road map for how to be successful in art, and it takes luck and perhaps a little delusion to make it. Any time I have made strides in my artistic career it’s because I had the opportunity to do something that I had never done before, opportunities that made me nervous and feel like an imposter, but sometimes you just have to take that leap of faith and trust that you can rely on your abilities. Creative risks are also important; I find that the work I’m often most excited about came out of experimentation- trying something I haven’t tried before, or using a material I am unfamiliar with.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am a painter and I find myself being drawn to themes of gender, intimacy and connection. Specifically I am interested in more masculine forms and expressions, painted in vibrant colors, participating in acts that blur the line between violence and tenderness. I describe my painting style as sculptural, I build and build and build-playing between light and shadow until the painting is formed. I feel like my art journey has mirrored that; I took a few art classes in community college but graduated from UC Irvine with a degree in film and media studies. I thought I was studying to be a writer, but I found myself obsessed with the aesthetics of film. I realized I wanted to participate visually so I started doing photography that was influenced by film, paying close attention to shadow and light. When I started painting I was painting as a person trained in film theory, the study of story and the photographed image, rather than fine arts.
Being nearly entirely self taught can have challenges; it’s easy to feel like an imposter, to doubt my instincts or to feel like everyone else knows more than me. I think the flip side of that, however, is that I am allowed to be unencumbered by form; when I quiet the imposter voice I have the benefit of being fully instinctual. Art is a lifelong practice, there is no end, or goal post, there is always more to learn, there is always someone else to learn from.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
This question is well timed because my best friend DID just move here so I have been playing tour guide lately. Truthfully, I am a creature of habit but for the sake of the question and my friend’s good time I’ll expand a bit. For coffee and morning treats we will start at Cafe Tropical, a very cute Cuban cafe (which is conveniently located near my house). In addition to being very habitual, I am very cheap (this is because I love to eat out and I spend most of my money being a bon vivant and I don’t care that being a bon vivant and being cheap are in conflict, I am delightfully complicated 🙂 ) With that in mind, here is a list of free things I like to do so I can save my money for eating and drinking : LACMA, LA residents can go for free after 3 on weekdays !
Hauser and Wirth, always free with regularly changing exhibitions, a cute book store and most importantly there’s a garden with chickens
MOCA has two locations and is also always free
If you have a friend in town you should probably take them to turtle watch at Echo Park Lake, or people watch at Silver Lake Reservoir.
But we all know we gotta eat, and our friend is on vacation so let’s indulge them a little. For lunch we are going to get sandwiches from Waxpaper in Frogtown, and we will eat in the nearby park on the LA river (it’s actually a little further down the river than you thought and your friend is getting hangry, but it’s a nice park and they’ll get over it). It’ll be 5 o’clock sometime, and when it is we will be getting a drink from : Walts (busy but cute with hot dogs), Capri Club (busy but cute with a cynar cocktail), Hermosillo ( an easy beer bar in Highland Park- we like easy). For dinner there are too many options but some tried and true options for myself might be Joy in Highland Park, Night/Market Song in Silver Lake and The Prince in Ktown. New and Notable options might be Dunsmoor (the back bar) and Cafe Triste (the wine bar with a daily food menu by Psychic Wines). LA is a film town so we should probably see a movie on this trip, and Braindead and the newly opened Vidiots both have fun programming all month long.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Being an artist is a rich journey, it’s endlessly referential and I think I could shout out every artist that ever came before me- but I won’t, and instead I will shout out my best friends (who are also all talented artists who I am constantly mining for their opinions on projects)-Alison Dunlevy, Natalie Coyne, and Amber Giusti. I would also say that my artistic journey was heavily impacted by having read The Artists Way, by Julia Cameron. Before I read that book I was working in photography and felt really uninspired and unfulfilled creatively. When I was reading The Artist’s Way I began fantasizing about the practice I wanted. I started wishing I was a painter, I wanted to work on things for long stretches of time, I wanted the experience of being so totally consumed and focused on a project that when you take a step back you are surprised by what you see. When the pandemic happened I suddenly had the opportunity to explore that fantasy. Within a few weeks I had created a routine for myself where I would paint for up to six hours a day, teaching myself what I could and learning to be patient with the process. I’d also like to shout out Art21; their artist documentary series offered me an insight to other artists’ creative processes, their studios, their references and allowed me to contextualize my fantasy.

Instagram: @Search4dempsey