James G. Thorpe Eulogy
“The truth will set you free. But not until it is finished with you.”
- Infinite Jest, David Foster Wallace (1996)
James Thorpe was an artist, educator and thinker. An advocate of critical thinking, he was considered an erudite of literature, history, music, film, art and design. His creative influence among his friends, family, students, colleagues and design community has resonated for generations.
His career spans five decades working as an artist and graphic designer for his practice James Thorpe Design as well as an educator as a tenured professor of design at the University of Maryland. Influenced by Surrealism and the socio-cultural conditions of the counter culture movements of the 1960’s and 70’s, his work focused on the intersection between the abstract and representational, conceptual and commercial challenging our perceptions of morality, cultural value systems and philosophical interpretation of meaning.
Privately, his gregarious and eccentric personality offered to a community of academics and creatives a fresh perspective of challenging traditional dogma. Known for his catalytic instigation of communication executed through the use of parallel thinking, he cultivated the spirit of discovery within each person he touched. Above all, his deepest passion was for his children. His efforts towards his children were to instill a hunger for knowledge and embrace the unknown of human experience. That within the imperfection of life is nested character and it is our individual responsibility to embrace this truth in an effort to discover who we are.
Something to be learned by Professor Thorpe was to always question the nature of reality, to think critically about what is being presented to you. Understand the “self “in relation to context and history. Never see the world on the surface but to be aware of its infinite interconnected complexity below. Reflect on this and the true nature of the world and yourself will be revealed.
“You know what to do”
James G. Thorpe
1951 - 2021