The pieces in Thompson’s “Color and Mystery,” which range from the representational to the abstract, are united by the language of color and the exploration of the mysteries of the human experience—the mysteries of time, aging, shared space and shared lives, relationships between people, and the workings of society. Some of the mysteries here are literal: Who are these lone figures? Who are these people sharing a space, and what are they to each other? Other mysteries are philosophical, depicted in paintings and drawings that attempt to represent visually what preoccupies us on a level deeper than the day-to-day: Who are we in a world of so many other people? Where will we end up? And in the meantime, as one person put it decades ago: Can we all get along?
