Cindy Tower

Lives and works in New York City and St. Louis, Missouri.

Current Exhibition at Bruno David Gallery
CINDY TOWER: DECADENSE
March 19 - May 8, 2010

Cindy Tower paints large-scale oil paintings of overloaded, exhausted, depleted American industries on location with a bodyguard. Her working methods cannot be separated from what she chooses to depict.

Raw in spirit and conviction, Tower's highly articulated works provide evidence of their making and engage the viewer in a visceral, otherworldly experience. Composite views of decrepitude become metaphors of bodily functions and reflect the political climate of our modern world. Wet, gloppy oil paint is loosely applied with control--in a manner in which subjects miraculously dematerialize and reemerge continuously. Tower's painting practice mirrors her concept of gradual accumulation that provides an exhausting, claustrophobic sensation and raises questions regarding the complexity and level of exchange that occurs in our modern world. Consumption, intimacy, obsolescence and loss, the paintings are an overwhelming celebration of materials and process. They provide the viewer with a visceral, physical experience that not only engages but actually engulfs the viewer in the self-contained environment of each work of art.

Born in Alamogordo, New Mexico, Cindy Tower received her MFA from the University of California, San Diego in 1988, and her BFA at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Tower has exhibited nationally and has been the focus of numerous one-person exhibitions including the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York, Bruno David Gallery in St. Louis, and most recently, at the Crisp Museum, Southeast Missouri State University, Cape Girardeau, where her "Workplaces" series was shown.

Recent Press:

- Cindy Tower by Ivy Cooper in the Art in America (pdf)
- Cindy Tower: Urban Decay by Dickson Beall in Westend Word (pdf)
- Cindy Tower: Riding the Rubble Down by Jessica Baran in the Riverfront Times (pdf)
- Tower/Bonnetti: Answering "Schtick" With Handmade Kitsch by Stefene Russell in St. Louis Magazine/Look-Listen (pdf)
- Factory Ghoul: Cindy Tower's large-scale oil paintings illuminate local relics of the industrial age by Malcolm Gay in the Riverfront Times (pdf)
- Tension Between Site and View Catalog essay by Stanley I. Grand (pdf)
- Cindy Tower Catalog essay by David Brody (pdf)
- Graviti & Grace: Cindy Tower by Stefene Russell in the St. Louis Magazine (pdf)
- Cindy Tower: Workplace Series Click for Video

Artist Website
Artist Bio (PDF)
Artist Essay (PDF)
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