The Poetry of Colors

Bruce Thacker never took an art class. He never even took a computer class. His degree is in geology, and he fi rst bought a computer in 1990 to track stock investments. Somewhere in the convoluted melange of his linear history, he owned a contemporary art gallery, invested in stocks and real estate, owned a custom photo lab, and was a professional photographer. “Other things that I’ve never had a class in include business, photography, art business, art history, art media and methods, or stock investing,” Thacker says. “But I strongly believe that self-taught and self-directed education is better learned. Schools always teach you fi rst what you can’t do. Most innovation is made by breaking those rules. Two of my heroes spring to mind: Pablo Picasso and Jackson Pollack.” When it comes to abstract digital imagery, Thacker claims he sneaked in through the back door. Soon after purchasing his fi rst computer 24 years ago, he realized the disruptive nature of digital photography and how the computer would inevitably become an extension of the camera. Then came Photoshop and fractal software, and away he went. “Along the way I learned that colors alone were often enough,” Thacker recalls. “Sometimes the content got in the way and colors themselves could be the creative starting point. Most recently I have been using colors only, moving them about until I achieve that moment of poetry which cannot be ignored.”