tom johnson : artwork

so absence from the evernet seems to have culminated in another little hiatus.. ah well. ive been working on a variety of projects lately - predominantly the bristol biennial for which ill be working on two shows with several other members of MadeScapes . Ive also confirmed a show at Utrophia , which will be a revisitation of the ideas and general visual themes of Topographic Translation more info will follow soon (projects are in june and may respectively) here is a little look at a very much in progress piece for the latter:

..so as ive been trying to catch up with whats been going on in the real world ive inadvertently failed to post the linking work.. i.e. the main piece that was in the exhibition 'these words i seek are not my own' which was the subject of the last post i made before the interim.. so here it is in all its dubious glory: 'vs' capcom, google, wood, dulux, projector, oil, acrylic, reclaimed frame, hardware 2011 we (the artists and a few other folks from around the studio) had a crit and this is the general thread of conversation regarding the work... somewhat forceful presentation of a view of incestuous counter-intuitive/symbiotic relationship existing between contemporary and historical dipictive image making. obscuring the plurality or multiplicity from both painterly and pseudo painterly perspectives content rendered, aside from being a deliberate rendering of a simulated physical (albeit exaggerated) conflict, attempt to both loose ...

i started working on a new series of digital works before christmas, they evolved out of the methods i was using to produce test palettes for the cnc routed panels ( sempiternal view and indentured clarity ). the first 3 i made were created by condensing and manipulating images ripped from google into these little pixellated landscape format colour fields.. in spite of being produced on a computer, the production method is actually more akin to traditional painting than most of my actual painting, i keep the image strictly to one layer, negating the temptation to keep particular colour formations and move them towards/away from the surface. it is important that the surface evolves as a whole in a chronologically linear way.. that way 'mistakes' or inadequite or visual unappealing decisions have to be accounted for by re-rendering or incorperating those elements into the overall scheme of things. 'Ultrapainting 1' thomas coles, google, photoshop, digital prin...

just a sample of some new bits and things that have been going on in the studio lately... my current projector jig/bodge one of the sonic the hedgehog panels after the initial projected drawing a little casting for another videogame related project, a bit more neatness required next time i think. some progress on a series of pictureboxes which will contain collage and cast elements. 'in the middle of the filth of truth' detail