Black Paris Profiles' Bob Tomlinson.
Image courtesy of the artist
The dictionary defines "diva" as "a great woman singer, a prima donna." These are present in the person of Josephine Baker etc. but the word is also taken in the broader sense of a flamboyant heroine, here historical or literary. The same holds true for the heroes. Whether heroes and heroines are possible in the modern world is open to question. The paintings are of modest format; the focus is on single or three-quarter figures. Having said that, the usual suspects are present, Prince Genghi, Cleopatra, Marie Antoinette (at least in painted versions) as well as James Baldwin, Lena Horne, Chet Baker etc.
Image courtesy of the artist
The paintings are combinations of painted areas in oil, elaborately textured and printed papers, as well as computer manipulated photographs. These papers are collaged on canvas and represent elements of anatomy, costume or abstracted background areas. The painter believes the frontier between figuration and abstraction to be an illusion. There is no monolithic distinction between the two modes. Whether naturalistically depicted or abstracted in various degrees, the "object" perceived in a painting (a figure or a bowl of fruit) is in fact only a combination of visual cues: colors, lines and shapes. As art critic Lawrence Downes wrote: "Tomlinson employs classical anatomy as a vehicle for gestural abstraction." Focusing on form and rhythm as formal autonomous entities, the artist sets his figures hovering in baroque atmospheres awash with subtle color harmonies. His themes are substantial and implore us to search our memories and connections to myth as well as to reality, but they are executed with an elegant surface treatment that often belies the anguish & emotions that lie deep in the layers of the work.
Image courtesy of the artist
Bob Tomlinson is a Jamaican-American painter born in Brooklyn, New York. A graduate of Pratt Institute and the City University Graduate Center, he is also a scholar of French Literature and Aesthetics. Tomlinson has shown widely in Paris, London, Amsterdam and New York and is represented in many international public and private collections including those of the Clark-Atlanta University Museum, Dr. Maya Angelou, Lord and Lady Hirshfield, M. Franco Trecanni di Montichiari, M. Pierre Cochet and Herr Waldo Klick. He figures in the recent books 100 New York Painters by Cynthia M. Dantzic (Schiffer, 2006), Black Paris Profiles by Monique Y. Wells (2012) and is also the subject of a projected film by the well-known documentary filmmaker Louis Massiah.
548 West 28th Street, 6th floor
New York, NY 10001
Gallery hours: Tuesday through Saturday 12-6PM
For further information please contact Vernita Nemec, Gallery Director at 212-414-4040 or .
Entrée to Black Paris!™ is a Discover Paris! blog.
If you like this posting, share it with your friends by using one of the social media links below!
No comments:
Post a Comment