ACTS Studios • Anthony Thompson Shumate | Houston, Texas • Multimedia Artist

MEASURED

June 4, 2012 by admin

MEASURED explores the measurements imposed and created by mundane objects and their influence on individuals. These fill the social and identity voids created by perceptions. The images are 1:1 scale drawings of “tools” that measure an individual through the prism of social norms and expectations. From a wedding ring, to a vibrator, to a house, individuals relate and equate their stature and station based on what or how they use these items. Each of the images have been hand drawn, [...]

Categories: Drawing, Feature, Installation, Sculpture

The Galactic Forfeit Cowboy Lounge

February 21, 2012 by admin

Categories: Public Art, Sculpture, Special Projects

COCKY

December 2, 2010 by admin

Read the review by Douglas Britt >> This dynamic new body of work demonstrates Thompson Shumate’s mastery of storytelling while merging new contemporary pieces with the classical concepts from DuChamp to Ruscha. The semi-autobiographical show includes an exciting variety of multimedia experiences for its viewers. Central to the exhibition is the anthology of a contemporary cock. The familiar rooster, icon of domesticity chosen for both its reality and absurdity, takes on a multitude of forms throughout the exhibition. Each piece is [...]

Categories: Feature, Installation, Sculpture, Special Projects, Uncategorized

EDUCATION Tsar

January 25, 2010 by admin

Swarovski crystals, Ceramic, polymer clay, graphite, and #2 yellow enamel 7″ Tall

Categories: Sculpture

Shining Star Livery

January 14, 2010 by admin

20 x 30 Litho Print on Watercolor Paper Recount of Bethlehem from 19th Century

Categories: Drawing, Lithographty, Uncategorized

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The Pump that Jack Used.

January 13, 2010 by admin

EXCERPT FROM PRESS RELEASE: “The name of the show, The Pump that Jack Used, is a “tongue and cheek” play on children’s picture book titles, applied to the executive political workings of the all mighty oil industry. While conducting research in preparation for the show, Anthony Thompson Shumate discovered that the same 15 people sit on almost every major oil company board and are either directly or indirectly connected to many technology, utility, and health insurance corporate boards as well. Through [...]

Categories: Installation, Sculpture, Video

Extol Petro

January 12, 2010 by admin

Neon Acrylic, Cold Cathode, Retablo Tin, and Grafite 12 x 10 inches Purchased by Lester Marks, 2006 Lawndale Art Center

Categories: Sculpture

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Southwest Airlines Terminal Proposal

January 12, 2010 by admin

Finalist Proposal for Southwest Airlines Terminal at Hobby Airport, Houston, Texas. Collaboration with Robert Ziebell, Doug Michels, and Anthony Thompson Shumate [nggallery id=14]

Categories: Installation, Public Art, Sculpture, Special Projects

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Animal Farm Chapter:1

January 12, 2010 by admin

Printed with hand crushed terra-cota mixed with acrylic medium and Gold leafing on watercolor rag paper. George Orwell’s Animal Farm was translated into Arabic mechanically, and arranged juxaposed to the english counterpart with an illustrations.

Categories: Sculpture

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I am Blue ‘cuz I am Red over you…

January 12, 2010 by admin

A pre-election video installation piece, with Obama reciting the 1 section of the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx. In the first section, Marx outlines what the problem is with the class structure and its implied problems. It is an obivious quote to Shepard Fairley’s provactive poster. [hana-flv-player video="http://actsstudios.com/images/Obama3.flv" width="450" height="700" description="" player="4" autoload="true" autoplay="false" loop="false" autorewind="true" /]

Categories: Video

Blimpnation

January 12, 2010 by admin

A video short about paranoia and imagination… [hana-flv-player video="http://actsstudios.com/wp-includes/images/Videos/BlimpnationSmall.flv" width="450" height="330" description="" player="4" autoload="true" autoplay="false" loop="false" autorewind="true" /]

Categories: Video

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Perspectives: Brushing Teeth

January 12, 2010 by admin

This short is based around the perception of everyday life and our routines. The viewer is tossed into a world where one character arrives and ascends into his home carrying a bag from work, only to continue to continue to work (removing items and brushing teeth). While the viewer, through the camera, descends to the second character that is Zen-fully passing his time in an underpass. This illustrates the duality of the have and have-nots and how they can be [...]

Categories: Video

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Big Mac Attack

January 12, 2010 by admin

This short is based around the distracting nature of advertising, and its impacts on the globalization of media and culture. The viewer is torn between watching the attack of a car filled with terrorists by NATO troops in Kosovo and an late 80s McDonald’s commercial about the Big Mac. In its irony, the spot was playing on the airwaves there at this time. [the video is compressed for web delivery]

Categories: Video

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Novus Ordo Seclorum

January 11, 2010 by admin

Novus ordo seclorum (Latin for “New Order of the Ages”) appears on the reverse of the Great Seal of the United States, first designed in 1782 and printed on the back of the American dollar bill since 1935. Through the duality of beauty and commentary, the installation evokes a proud and mixed nostalgia, while opening a powerful dialogue about the concerns of our future sovereignty and the aesthetics of currency and its iconography. Shumate has an extraordinary ability to toy [...]

Categories: Installation, Sculpture

Benevolent Imperialist

January 11, 2010 by admin

24 K Gold Plated Burger King Crown Hand Sewn Satin Pillow 6 Inches Tall

Categories: Installation, Sculpture

Las Pozas: Steps & Falls

January 11, 2010 by admin

Las Pozas: Steps and Falls is an interactive virtual tour of the fantastical surrealist garden created by the iconoclastic British aristocrat and poet Edward James (1907-1984). A visionary patron and friend of the European surrealist artists, James supported projects by Salvador Dáli and sat for portraits by René Magritte and Man Ray while also amassing a major collection of surrealist art. In the late 1940s James moved to Mexico where, over a twenty-year period, aided by his friend and collaborator [...]

Categories: Installation, Photography, Special Projects • Tags: Photography

100 Opinions of Mars and Venus

January 11, 2010 by admin

48 x 96″ Digital Print on Canvas A sampling of a total of two hundred people were questioned over a two week period. One hundred men and one hundred women from different social and economic groups were asked to participate. I asked participants to list ten words that best described their gender. They could not collaborate with any one during the survey. Once completed, I imputed the information into a data base and sorted them. The text was then flowed [...]

Categories: Painting

The Proletariats

January 11, 2010 by admin

Proletariats (Series of 10) Gilcee Prints in Cast Faux Frames

Categories: Drawing, Sculpture

Delicious Douglas

January 11, 2010 by admin

450 Food Cans, Hand Engraved Can openers, and Plywood In Houston, a non-profit art organization named Buffalo Bayou Art Park, hosts an event for artists to make work during the holiday season in the urban streets of downtown. Serveral sites open for artists to choose from. During this selection process I witnessed several homeless people being moved to another location. I decided to make a work that would give my honorarium back to the homeless community through an interactive, destructive [...]

Categories: Public Art, Sculpture

Perspectives:1

January 11, 2010 by admin

Aluminum and Neon with LCD Screen 40 Inches Wide I was researching media bias, and I came across a study that opened the door for this work. It was a small study of CNN’s Cuban stories from 1997-2001. It analyzed the 212 stories that were broadcasted during that time, and made aware the notion of biases, direct or not. If CNN (and other news sources) report small stories in a very biased manner, what’s to say that they are not [...]

Categories: Sculpture

Apollyon

January 11, 2010 by admin

Series of Living Bibles with Digital Print Dust Covers The concept of the work was to transform a neutral, timeless object into a contemporary context. I selected a series of Living Bibles written in English and updated with American colloquialisms. I designed and illustrated a new dust cover for the eight books in the series. My intent was to reposition the book as a work of fiction, stating on the cover that it was the number one selling novel of [...]

Categories: Public Art, Sculpture

Brazos Trace

January 11, 2010 by admin

Liz Ward Robert Ziebell Anthony Thompson Shumate Commission, University of Houston Sugarland Campus The inspiration for Brazos Trace is the Brazos River, a major geographical feature adjacent to the campus. The project’s curving panels create the visual effect of a river descending through the architectural space. The river-like panels are patterned with images relating to the cultural and natural history of the Brazos. The production and transport of cotton and sugar drove the economic development of the Brazos River region. [...]

Categories: Installation, Public Art, Sculpture

Midwestern/Mideastern (Jihad Belt Buckle)

January 11, 2010 by admin

Midwestern-Mideastern (Jihad) Silver Plated Bronze Buckles, Hand tooled belts, Video Projection: 10 Ft in diameter Buckle: 6″ in diameter Based on the Texas “Ye-haw” and its connection with the “country” sub-culture, the “Jihad” belt buckles are fashioned with a cowboy hat at the top of the J. The projection is an illustrated version of both West Texas and many regions of the Middle East. Both of which are rich in oil and subcultured dress. The buckles are chased and repoussed [...]

Categories: Installation, Sculpture

Suitor of Helen

January 11, 2010 by admin

Suitor of Helen White Pine, LCD screen, DVD, and 8 screws 18” x 42” x 36” Based on both the Fat Boy Bomb and the Trojan Horse, this work explores the duality of icons and their juxtopositions when related to history. This includes a looped video of politically correct youths marching in line. It also pokes fun at the phallic nature of bombs…

Categories: Sculpture, Video

STATIONS

January 10, 2010 by admin

The name of the show, Stations, is a “tongue and cheek” play on the common euphemism of the fourteen stations where Christ stopped on his final sacred voyage, and the top fourteen gas service stations (not gas companies) in America.

Categories: Installation, Sculpture, Video

ClubGitm’o

December 17, 2009 by admin

ClubGitm’o:Houston highlighted the current political struggle between prevention from terrorism versus the deterioration of civil rights with a luxurious touch. The experience of ClubGitm’o:Houston addressed the conflict by directly presenting both truths: the methods to prevent terrorism and the need to protect civil rights and the overstepping of both camps. By participating in this event, guests immersed themselves in the irony inherent in this conflict. [hana-flv-player video="http://actsstudios.com/wp-includes/images/IntroGitmo.flv" width="450" height="330" description="" player="4" autoload="true" autoplay="false" loop="false" autorewind="true" /]

Categories: Installation, Sculpture, Video

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American Fable

December 17, 2009 by admin

Cast Chocolate Abraham Lincoln bust. Based on the notion of icons and effigies that transcend their origins, like the legend of honest Abe and the Easter Bunny. The tactile, powerful material of chocolate invites the need to taste the work without consideration of the fragility or true “taste” of the object. It has an incredible smell…

Categories: Sculpture

ACTION Anthony

December 17, 2009 by admin

I came to this concept by researching the impacts of Barbie-dolls and the socialization of women in modern America. The study never addressed the impact of boy dolls, like GI Joe, and the roles predicated by men. The work evolved into a exaggerated self portrait. The figure itself is made of fiberglass, and was fabricated in City of Industry, CA at Pativa-V. The box was constructed of cardboard at a size of 9 x 4 x 3.5 feet. The back [...]

Categories: Sculpture

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