Thomas Woodruff
Angus D., 2022
Acrylic on canvas
60 x 48 inches (152.4 x 121.9 cm)
© Thomas Woodruff; Photo by Argenis Apolinario; Courtesy the artist and Vito Schnabel Gallery
Thomas Woodruff’s ongoing fantasy of prehistoric, cataclysmic drama reaches a breathtaking crescendo in this show of large-scale recent paintings, The Dinosaur Variations. In full-steam ahead mode, with his arsenal of Renaissance techniques and illusionistic effects serving to enhance these refined, maximalist compositions, Woodruff just might be regarded as the Jurassic Botticelli. Certain works, such as the gorgeous Ruby, appear as shimmering panoramic portraits of queer dinosaurs. In this three-panel painting, spanning five feet high and ten feet wide, a wide-eyed Stegosaurus with red and silvery pink scales lies beneath a glowing rainbow. The creature luxuriates within a sumptuous bed of lush, prehistoric flowers and other vegetation arranged in hypnotic patterns.