There are artist that I admire for how close I feel to their work in terms of how it aligns to my own process and aesthetic. Conversely there are artists I admire despite feeling completely distant from how they think and operate. Kyle Thompson falls into the latter category. Perhaps it’s because his work and his practice is so utterly foreign to me that I find myself fascinated by it. No matter the reason why, I think Kyle has a unique perspective and approach to making art and I’m excited to be working with him.

In his words:

I’m trying to decide whether this reaction is proceeding along an E2 or an S_N2 pathway. There is plenty of “exchange”, and also plenty of “substitution” — there is a liferaft here because there is now a floating rock out there — but some of the things I really have to consider are: is there a strong nucleophile involved? Does the rock have a primary moiety? Does the liferaft have a tertiary, allylic, or benzylic structure? Is either one sterically hindered? Are the transition states of these buoyant objects relatively stable? Is the solvent (seawater) or the inverse solvent (spacetime) highly protic?

Once I figure these things out, I can move on to stereochemistry, kinetics, and NIHIL. 

Please join us Saturday, November 12th, 6-8pm