Zigged When I Should've Zagged | EWOK HM MSK (George R. Thompson IV)

"I'm just trying to make things that I think are visually interesting. Maybe beautiful."
— EWOK HM MSK (George R. Thompson IV)

The exhibition brings together nine drawings created between 2020 and 2026 alongside the 2019 screenprint Cop Car, offering the most comprehensive presentation of Thompson's studio practice to date.

For more than three decades, Thompson has been one of the defining figures in the evolution of Twin Cities graffiti. As a founding member of HM (Heavy Metal) and longtime member of the internationally recognized crews AWR (Art Work Rebels) and MSK (Mad Society Kings), his work helped shape a regional visual language that has influenced generations of artists. Yet this exhibition is less concerned with graffiti as a subject than with the sustained practice of an artist committed to a single visual language over the course of a lifetime.

Created over the past six years, the drawings reveal a deeply personal investigation into form, structure, and abstraction. Working primarily with spray paint, acrylic and airbrush, Thompson builds surfaces through successive layers, allowing organic and mechanical forms to emerge gradually from fields of tone. Earlier works suggest cavernous interior landscapes, while more recent drawings evolve through overlapping geometric structures that resolve into complex sculptural compositions. Throughout the exhibition, the artist's enduring fascination with letter structure remains embedded within increasingly abstract images.

If Thompson's public work demonstrates mastery through scale, speed, and performance, these drawings reveal something more intimate. On paper, the artist becomes visible. They offer a rare opportunity to encounter the private studio practice that has developed alongside one of the most influential bodies of graffiti produced in the American Midwest.

These works reflect an artist refining his visual vocabulary, not abandoning it. Rather than separating graffiti practice from studio practice, Zigged When I Should've Zagged proposes that the two practices exist in continuous dialogue. The visual language first developed on walls and freight trains continues here, revealing decades of accumulated knowledge distilled into increasingly sophisticated forms. Each drawing measures 24 × 18 inches and is presented in a handmade maple frame created specifically for the exhibition.

The exhibition also celebrates a relationship spanning more than thirty years between Thompson and Burlesque of North America founders Mike Davis and Wes Winship. From early collaborations through Life Suck Die to numerous print editions published by Burlesque, their shared history has paralleled the development of both the artist and the broader Twin Cities creative community. As the first solo exhibition presented at Southside Preservation Society, the exhibition acknowledges both a longstanding creative partnership and an important chapter in the region's cultural history.

In conjunction with the exhibition, Burlesque of North America and Joe Ellis Art will release a limited number of Thompson's iconic 2019 hand-embellished screenprint Cop Car. The exhibition will also feature signed historical photographs documenting Thompson's graffiti, a new artist zine, and live T-shirt printing, with visitors invited to bring their own garments for printing during the opening reception.

While public murals and graffiti inevitably disappear as cities evolve, these drawings remain as records of an artist's lifelong pursuit of form. Together they reveal not a departure from graffiti, but its continued evolution through the studio, offering a rare view into the practice of an artist whose influence continues to shape contemporary painting in the American Midwest.

Gallery Hours:
Tuesday-Friday, 12:00-5:00 PM, or by appointment