Saturday, July 2, 2011

Artist #21: Fred Tomaselli

Big Raven, 2008.
Acrylic, photocollage, and resin on wood panel, 84 x 72 in.
Photo Credit
Fred Tomaselli is an American painter from California. He has exhibited in both group and solo shows across the country. I saw one of his works at the Virginia Museum of Fine Art. It captured me from far away with the large painting of a bird, rendered with bright color against a plain black background. Tomaselli's painting then surprised me by being even more interesting close up.
Woodpecker. 2008. @VMFA
Acrylic, gouache, photo collage, resin on wood panel.
What makes Tomaselli's art so amazing is the fine detail of form and pattern within a larger object. For example, the bird's beak is made up of multiple imagery of different types of birds beaks. He allows the viewer to see the anatomical parts that make up his artificial forms. On his White Cube page, here, he says, "It is my ultimate aim, to seduce and transport the viewer in to space of these pictures while simultaneously revealing the mechanics of that seduction.”
Woodpecker (detail)
Also, I'll throw in a great video of Fred Tomaselli explaining what he does.

No comments:

Post a Comment