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Fine Artist Tom Garner

Brief Artist’s Statement

los angeles fine artist tom garnerThe subject of my artistic itinerary has long been the work of art as historical artifact, the way we receive it, frame it, and perceive it in our museums or in otherwise cultural contexts.

I have trodden a backwards path from a completely conceptual outset at UCSD where drawing and painting were not even taught, considered as archaic, to my studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice where I was schooled by an abstract expressionist whose work hardly reflected the Most Serene Republic, to a twenty-four year sojourn in Italy where the work of the masters became my neighbors and inspiration.

Photorealism: My First Approach to Painting

My first approach to painting was a photorealist take on the pictures at an exhibition where the objective eye of the camera focused on paintings as opposed the landscapes or other subjects. But soon I was drawn into the seductive allure of the masters’ work manifest in naturalistic ideals and consummate skills. The way a religious icon is part of the cult it represents, in my work I try to create a unified mechanism between technique, content, and the work as object or artifact, painting about painting.

Thomas Garner’s Bio and Background

Born in Boston on March 10, 1954. Grew up in San Diego. Lived for 24 years in Padua, Italy. Presently lives and works between Italy and Los Angeles. He heads up the Graphic Design Dept. at Lucky Brand Jeans and Teaches a course at UCLA Extension titled Classical Oil Painting in the Style of the Venetian Masters.

  • EDUCATION:
    • University of California, San Diego, Visual Arts.
    • Academy of Fine Arts in Venice, Italy.
  • SCHOLARSHIPS:
    • California State Scholarship for study in exchange program at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice.
  • PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:
    • Painter and sculptor.
    • Member of Italian art group. “Arte Ludica. Tata”. 1980-83.
    • Marble sculpture,casting, screen printing. Portraiture of celebs.
    • Mural work in Paris, 1991.
    • Industrial and graphic designer in Italy since 1979 and Los Angeles since 2000.
    • Widely recognised in the fashion world (see article in Sportswear International, Global Edition, July 2000, included in website.)
    • Worked primarily for Replay in Italy and is presently Director of Graphic Design at Lucky Brand Jeans.
    • Internationally published illustrator.
    • Experimental and commercial film animation.

FINE ART EXHIBITIONS

  • 1976 Mithras Book Store. La Jolla. Personal.
  • 1977 U.C.S.D. Student Gallery. La Jolla. A two artist show. Drawings and paintings.
  • 1980 Casino Municipale. Venezia. Collective research project exhibition.
  • 1982 Galleria Tot. Padova. Tata group show.
  • l983 Galleria Tot. Padova. Tata group show.
  • 1985 Kunsthaller. Schwabish Gmund. Germany. International Jewelry exhibition.
  • 1985 Galleria l.C.F.. Bologna. Tata Group show.
  • 1986 Sala Dei Giganti. Padova. “Rassegna Nazionale di Poesia”, Personal Show, Paintings.
  • In 1987 new paintings at the “Terra ai Confini” show in Montagnana, Italy. Intimo gallery, Padova, painting andsignificantly professional graphic and illustration work.
  • 1991-92 he showed at the Padova “Biennale del Bronzetto”. “Progetto Logos”
  • 1993 Accdemia di Romania, Rome, Venice, Bucarest, Capri.”Cornici and Pittori”
  • 1993, Padova. “Painting of Pictures and Picturing Things”, Iperspazio, Milan
  • 1996.2001, “Terre e Acqua”, San Donà di Piave, Italy.
  • 2003 “Recent Paintings” Brewery, Los Angeles
  • 2006 Omaggio a Tiepolo, Frank Pictures Gallery, Bergamot Station, Santa Monica.
  • 2007 Recent Paintings, Continental Gallery, Los Angeles.
  • 2007 Higgins Gallery, Los Angeles.
  • 2007 Bobbie Greenfield Gallery.
  • 2010 Bert Green Fine Arts

PUBLICATIONS:

Included in: research and exhibition catalogue. L’Utilita’ Scolpita Ovvero la Forcola Veneziana. (Venezia, 1980): Tata. Arte Ludica catalogues 1-5, (PADOVA. 1982-~5): Rassegna Nazionale di Poesia catalogue, (Padova. 1986): Art review on Italian television, Nov. 1986. Annuals: Illustratori Italiani 2; Omnibook 3. Illustrations regularly published nationally and internationally. Commercial animation for Italian broadcast. Painting monograph with introduction by Manlio Brusatin, Paintings of Pictures, 1996. Hardcover monograph of fashion graphic design work, Casual

Design by Thomas Garner, published 2000. Webpage. www.tomgarner.com