I’ve posted about this painting and a bit about Lange before. Here I am with the cleaned up and restored version of “#1 Adam”.
August 24, 2022
work done by: Conservation & Museum Services
Kenneth B Katz, Chemist, Conservator, and Senior Magician
TL Lange was born in 1965 and raised in Charleston before studying drawing and painting at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, SC, where he met Paul Martyka, an influential art professor that encouraged his vision. He also met some like-minded musicians and after a couple of years playing in Rock Hill and nearby Charlotte, his band left Rock Hill for Atlanta. As his band opened up for bigger and bigger acts in Atlanta, they also toured up the East Coast, complete with an agent. After a poor performance in New York City with a Sony representative, the band began to backpedal and TL’s love of art making started to rise.
It was in Atlanta that he switched gears from being a rockstar to being an art rockstar. Sold out shows, celebrity collectors and representation by a global distributor contributed to a move to Salt Lake City to open up an art gallery. From there, back to North Carolina and Andrews, where his East Coast representative had an art factory, and to Charlotte, where he established an Atelier. Eventually he chose Black Mountain with a huge studio and gallery in the River Arts District.
Lange started his work with “concrete visions”, and actually began several paintings at one time. He tried to allow some form of synchronicity to determine his next decision. As the artist said, “I make marks for the sake of themselves. I create error that I find attractive in all of our everyday lives. However, I leave it hanging three marks shy of discernment. What I mean by that is that I choose that it not be understood or to be scrutinized by its detail or its adherence to reality—only to be seen for its sense and its nostalgic response without my personal sentiment.”
So what was TL Lange like? From Larry Winn:
“I must have answered the question a thousand times. My short answer would be “if Hollywood were to cast a movie on an artist, TL would be both the star and the subject”. With looks like Johnny Depp, demons that have plagued artists for ages, and gifted with a burning, creative energy which would manifest into some of the most compelling imagery I have ever viewed. But of course, TL was far too complex to encapsulate in some breezy quote.”
“The words brilliant, kind, gentle and spiritual mixed with a touch of exasperating, naive, stubborn and unpredictable serve as an incomplete description of perhaps the most gifted and unique artist with whom I have ever worked. This is a day that I celebrate personally and mourn what should have been. It is also a day to celebrate the undeniable talent of T L Lange.”
In 2002, after contracting the HIV-virus, TL took his own life at age 36.
