Terry Thompson's photorealistic oils depicting old signs make a very welcome return to Culver City in a show at George Billis Gallery, opening this Saturday, May 30. The show is called "Dive Motels and Cheap Eats."

Here's what the gallery's website says about the latest show: "Terry Thompson continues to explore his fascination with text and Americana through his highly detailed and aggressively cropped oil paintings based on vintage signage and graphics."

And here's what I had to say about Thompson's last show at George Billis Gallery, back in March of 2011. "Thompson's paintings have great surface joys -- suave graphic lines and brilliantly faded colors. But they also express an acceptance that stuff wears out and that the most beautiful, delicate and ephemeral things wear out most quickly….Thompson's paintings pay tribute to the cool and slender optimism of the American 50s and early 60s - expressing a nostalgia about a past future. Ultimately, the pieces are about the passing of time and of innocence. By extension, as the name of the exhibit, "Signs of Life," would imply, they are about the passing of life itself."

The artist reception, which is (as always) open to the public and probably a lot of fun, is this Saturday, May30th, from 5 to 8 pm.

George Billis Gallery is located at 2716 La Cienega Blvd.