Daryl Thetford

Daryl's work has been described as graphic, modern, pop, and contemporary, although what to actually call the process has been a larger source of debate; it has been called photo collage, digital art, and digital mixed media. The process begins with Thetford selecting a single, original photographic image followed by a digital layering and combining of dozens of additional photographs. It is a process in which he often uses 100 or more photographs and takes an average of 40 hours.

Growing up on a farm in rural northwest Tennessee, I was fascinated by all things urban. The large metropolitan cities I saw on television glittered at night with lights and cars and well-dressed, beautiful people on their way to beautiful restaurants and parties. City life was a beautiful life and all urban people were living it, it seemed to me. This was, of course, a naive and romanticized vision. I somehow overlooked or discounted the crime stories and the images of less well-off people. Of course I now have a more complex and balanced view of cities. I still love the energy of them when I am in one, the people crowding the sidewalks, getting coffee at a local roasters, exploring and walking neighborhoods, and the museums and backdrop of beautiful buildings. My cityscapes are both a throwback to the days when I idealized cities and my way of honoring the reality of them, with all their fortunes and flaws.
Daryl currently lives with his wife, writer and artist Dana Shavin in Chattanooga, Tennessee. They enjoy travel, great food, great art, and the company of good friends.

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Daryl Thetford’s work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions in museums and galleries throughout the United States, including his 3 month solo exhibition at the Holter Museum of Art in Helena, Montana in 2024. He has also shad solo exhibits at the Ormond Museum of Art in Ormond Beach, Florida; the Art Museum of the University of Memphis; Penn College and others. His work has also appeared in the Knoxville Museum of Art; the Alexandria Museum of Art in Louisiana; the Annenberg Space for Photography in Los Angeles; the Hunter Museum of Art in Chattanooga; the Mobile Museum of Art in Alabama; the Coffman Gallery at the University of Minnesota; and the Museum of Anthropology of the University of California-Cico.

Thetford has been commissioned by numerous public agencies and corporations, including the Chattanooga Parks and Recreation Department; the City of Loveland, Colorado; Des Moines Area Community College of Iowa; Sony Records in Nashville; Arrow Electronics and Dorsey and Whitney in Denver; the Mullins Group in Madison, Wisconsin; the Menard Financial Group in Houston; and the Utah Orthopedic Spine & Injury Center in Salt Lake City; Scripps Networks in Knoxville, Tennessee and Ryan Companies in Tampa, Florida.

In addition, his work is in public and corporate collections, including those of the Mayor’s Office, City of Hoover, Alabama; Penn College in Williamsport, Pennsylvania; the Texas Office of Tourism in Austin; Ryan Companies in Tampa, Florida; Blue Cross/Blue Shield in Sioux City, South Dakota, The Mullins Group in Madison, Wisconsin; KP Development in St Louis, Missouri,; Land Development Strategies in Kansas City, Missouri and Tanglewood Property Group, in Houston, Texas.