Tacoma-Born Painter, Michael Tetherow, is Dead
Michael Tetherow was born in Tacoma in 1942. He attended the University of Puget Sound before heading off into the bigger world. He spent most of the last thirty years in New York. The New York Times once said that “Michael Tetherow is one of the few artists coming out of Abstract Expressionism whose work is consistently surprising and alive.” Tetherow moved to Denver last year where he died on December 15th.
Mr. Tetherow placed great emphasis on the physical nature of paint and painting, taking many of his cues from Abstract Expressionists like Clyfford Still. But his art had a Symbolist side as well, especially in the 1970s and early ’80s, when his large, thickly worked monochromes had eyelike ovals, either cut or painted, that stared out from their centers.
Link to the New York Times
8 comments
M Mofo from the Hood December 26, 2007
Nobody can write an obit headline like the NY Times. Their copywriting for obits is also some of the best in the business.
Interesting that Tetherow was able to survive U.P.S. during the time when the only reason to attend school there was to drink and draw nudes.
U um December 26, 2007
Wow, even then anyone with any talent left Tacoma.
M Mofo from the Hood December 26, 2007
If we’re gonna talk about U.P.S. and art and Tacoma, then I vote for retired U.P.S. professor Bill Colby. He was displaying art in Tacoma during the period Tetherow was a student—-and Colby still is going strong.
Anyone can leave Tacoma. It takes talent to stay here.
M Mofo from the Hood December 26, 2007
4:10pm PST. This report just in:
Michael Tetherow is still dead.
M Mofo from the Hood December 26, 2007
D-E-A-D
Bought the Farm.
Gone Fishin’.
M Mofo from the Hood December 26, 2007
On the road of no return.
The great dream time.
The final curtain.
M Mofo from the Hood December 28, 2007
WE INTERRUPT THIS BLOG ENTRY WITH A SPECIAL REPORT FROM THE MOFO NEWS NETWORK.
MNN CORRESPONDENT JENNY FROM THE BLOCK:
“Michael Tetherow is still dead.”
M Mofo from the Hood December 29, 2007
Unavailable for comment.
In the seance greenroom.
Promoted to Glory.