Tuesday 29 July 2014

Fred Tomaselli


Artville Contemporary Artist Of The Day
FRED TOMASELLI
Airborne Event
Year: 2003
Medium: mixed media, acrylic paint, resin on wood, 
Size: 84 x 60 x 1 1/2 in

Tomaselli's new works are richly layered collage and painted surfaces incorporating plant life as well as images from anatomical illustrations, magazines and nature guides. The paintings draw on such varied influences as Tibetan Thangkas, Indian miniatures and the 16th century Italian artist Guiseppe Arcimboldo. Similar in spirit to Tomaselli's earlier work which referenced the relationship between the sub-culture of psychedelia and utopianism, these new paintings expand the dialogue into a fictive landscape where figures populate a frenzied, cosmic and other worldly universe. He is acclaimed for his collaged paintings, which incorporate unconventional materials and depict hallucinatory, surreal scenes. He immersed himself in the city’s artistic community. The artist cites the climate of 1980s New York as the inspiration for his works’ unusual materials, which include aspirin, nicotine patches, hemp leaves, hallucinogenic powders, and pills. While in the 1970s these drugs had been a source of connection to utopian visions, in the 1980s Tomaselli observed his friends using such drugs amidst a darker, Postmodern, AIDS-ridden landscape. He incorporates these materials into shimmering, glittering works that combine natural imagery with patterns and surreal backgrounds, blurring the lines between the natural and the artificial. Tomaselli’s work also touches on transcendentalism, linking the 19th century philosophy about the metaphysical found in nature to a renewed contemporary vision of this search for spiritual meaning.

#art #painting #justaposition #collage #figurative#popularart #contemporaryartist #fredtomaselli#artvillecontemporary #artgallery

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