“Sheldon Tapley revitalizes, indeed, electrifies the still life genre by combining aspects of contemporary life with painterly constructs derived from the history of Western art.”

From
Master of the Not-So-Still Still Life
by Daniel Brown
The Artist’s Magazine
May 2012 

Sheldon Tapley, a painter, draftsman and teacher, became nationally known for still-life paintings that depicted familiar objects in lively, complex compositions. He worked in abstraction before embracing realism, and was a landscapist before turning to still life. Throughout his career, portraiture and the human figure have been important subjects. His current work, embracing a variety of genres, is sustained by a vivid mastery developed over decades. Viewers connect with his paintings and drawings; with his sensitive observation, transformed by imagination and informed by a deep knowledge of art.

Tapley’s art has been represented by Tatistcheff Gallery in New York City; Harris Gallery in Houston, Texas; Linda Schwartz Gallery in Lexington, Kentucky; Jerald Melberg Gallery in Charlotte, North Carolina; and M.A. Doran Gallery in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Solo museum shows of the artist’s work have been presented at The Sacramento Center for Contemporary Art and The Evansville Museum. In Evansville, he was honored as the Martha & Merrit deJong Memorial Artist-in-Residence.

Tapley’s works have been reviewed in The New Yorker, and featured in major articles in American Artist and The Artist’s Magazine.

“Tapley masterfully blends the discipline of a hard-earned classical technique with a vision that is thoroughly modern and personal,” wrote Bill Creevy in a feature article for American Artist (November 1999). The artist's pastel painting, Jury Rig, was on the cover of the magazine.

Kentucky Educational Television included the artist in the 2001 series Looking at Painting, made by Guy Mendes and Robert Tharsing. In 2019, KET interviewed the artist in an episode of Kentucky Life, directed by Tom Thurman.

The artist is a member of Zeuxis, an association of still-life painters based in New York City that presents exhibitions at museums and galleries across the country.

In 2022, Tapley retired from Centre College after thirty-nine years of teaching; he held the Stodghill Professorship in Art. He lives and works in Danville, Kentucky and Easthampton, Massachusetts. Born in Venezuela to British parents, he was raised in Europe and North America.

Publications

Master of the Not-So-Still Still Life, The Artist's Magazine, May 2012, by Daniel Brown.

Where the Past and Present Meet, American Artist, November 1999, by Bill Creevy.

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