PHILADELPHIA – Tiger Strikes Asteroid is pleased to announce the opening of its August, 2010 exhibition, Plan, a solo exhibit of recent work by Thomas Vance.

Thomas Vance’s architectonic garden arrangements carry themselves both magically and serenely. Like isolated sections of Cezanne’s finest landscapes, pulled out and elaborated upon, they have the enigmatic, cerebral grace of mathematical equations and cloud formations. The workaday, nearly banal materials seem to accentuate this magic, further heightened by the wry trickery going on in many of the pieces: stones are made of painted foam or plaster; branches are made of light cardboard; leaves are daubed on paint. They are both set and actors. And like highly-trained actors or dancers, Vance’s pieces pirouette and pose effortlessly with the best of them, but with a knowing wink and nod; an ongoing audience aside which opens up the possibility of unforeseen continuances, consequences or connections: of the built to the grown; the actual to the faux; the seen to the unseen. Being amidst Vance’s carefully-crafted and finely-tuned work is akin to reaching a manicured clearing within an aesthetic wilderness.

Thomas Vance is a Philadelphia based artist, who has been shown extensively nationally in recent years. Most recently, his sculptural work was included in the highly-respected Philadelphia International Airport art exhibition program, and in the Stella Elkins Tyler Gallery, also in Philadelphia. Others of his works have been included in shows in St. Louis, Cleveland, and Wilmington, DE. Vance maintains a studio in Philadelphia, and instructs at both University of the Arts and Temple’s Tyler School of Art.