When Light Breaks: A solo exhibition by Gregory Thielker
Washington University MFA Graduate Gregory Thielker is an American artist, currently based in Paris. For many years, Thielker has been focused on a familiar perspective, the landscape seen from inside of the car. He has taken this theme to ambitious lengths, with series documenting roadways globally, but at heart, his work is a visceral exploration of the unnoticed.
For Thielker, the sensation of movement has long been an inspiration. Whether in the detailed renderings of the road glimpsed through a rain-soaked windshield, or in his more analytical explorations of historic routes across conflict zones, motion has remained his central pursuit. In "When Light Breaks", Thielker turns toward speed itself—an element seldom captured in the stillness of painting.
These newest canvases describe a landscape in flux. Roads, trees, and sky dissolve into one another; light flares only in fragments at the horizon, as though forever just out of reach. Propelled forward, the viewer is drawn into a state where perception stretches and blurs. Working from photographs of roadways across America and Europe, Thielker employs photography not merely as reference but as catalyst—summoning feelings that transcends the optical. These works speak to the emotional terrain of velocity: that paradoxical freedom and separation found in speed, when the world unravels into a kaleidoscope of shifting color and memory.
With projects in locations including the US Mexico border, Afghanistan, and India, his work often blends on-site research and studio production. He has exhibited throughout the United States and abroad. Recent exhibition venues include Galerie Zberro (Paris), Galerie Diego Escobar (Marseille), Galerie Le Feuvre et Roze (Paris), Castor Gallery (New York), Brown University, The Brattleboro Art Museum, Vermont, Republic Gallery, Paris, and Flashpoint Gallery, Washington, DC. He is a Fulbright Fellow and has done residencies in India, Norway, El Salvador, and Argentina. His work has been featured by Juxtapoz, The Guardian, Vermont Public Radio, The Independent, and La Repubblica.
