Tom Wilmott
08/12/2014
I'll buy a million of you, baby and every single one of them will be mine.
Part 3+
For me, the main reason for making a painting is to enjoy every aspect, from concept to production and finally the finished object. The final stage of this plan - to give my paintings away for free - is an attempt to complete the process in an enjoyable, satisfying manner. I have touched on some of the reasons I have abandoned the idea of achieving any commercial success from painting here and here. This being the case there is no reason not to simply give these things away to anyone who may want them...
I'll buy a million of you, baby and every single one of them will be mine.
Part 2
I can't be held responsible for my actions I
2014
Gloss & oil on canvas
48.0 x 36.0cm
At least things can't get any worse. 1.2 II
2014
Oil & gloss on canvas
25.3 x 31.3cm
At least things can't get any worse 1.2 III
2014
Acrylic & emulsion on canvas
28.0 x 20.4cm
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23/11/2014
I'll buy a million of you, baby and every single one of them will be mine.
Part 1
I'm the cleanest I have ever been.
2013
Gloss on canvas
35.1 x 25.1cm
At least things can't get any worse 1.2 V
2014
Emulsion on canvas
25.5 x 20.3cm
I can't be held responsible for my actions III
2014
Gloss & oil on canvas
28.0 x 20.4cm
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09/11/2014
Money talks
(You said I was cheap, you were the sale of the century).
I visited Frieze Masters art fair recently and among the inevitably mediocre odds and sods there were more than a few things that caught my eye. Art fairs are always a mixed bag. Generally they're that big and crammed with stuff that many items ranking both very low and very high on one's own personal 'spectrum of awesome' can be found. As it goes, over the years Frieze Masters has consistently presented me with a large amount of high ranking stuff and this year was no exception...
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07/09/2014
Constantly on the cusp of (not) trying
As established, in this most recent series of paintings I have noticed that effective abstract compositions can often appear 'naturally' as part of the process of priming a canvas. A simple need to cover the surface in increments restricted by the size of the brush selected, using marks laid down based on instant functional decisions builds the composition. Stopping at a point before coverage is complete determines it...
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26/08/2014
Time gentlemen, please.
This series explores the development of aestheic quality as an inadvertant by-product of painting in a purely functional manner. A requirement to cover a surface with paint and the system of doing so - making one mark after another, each adjacent to the previous - can yield energetic and dynamic abstract compositions if the task is arrested earlier than its practical nature dictates. My intention is for these paintings become successful, pleasing abstract compositions that have developed naturally, reducing the need for preconceived aesthetics as far as possible.
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15/06/2014
In the midnight hour she cried: "More! More! More!"
(The Banana of Opportunity)
It turns out you can have too much of a good thing. Who knew?
I like my recent multiple mark paintings. They have achieved a reasonable degree of success, but have done so without scaling the heights I had hoped they might. Composition, which was expected to be chief among potential problems, actually turned out to be one of the most significant positives for me and promises other potential offshoots of interest...
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07/05/2014
New paintings.
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03/05/2014
I can't be held responsible for my actions.
Each work in this series is comprised of two or more individual abstract marks. Composition, i.e the specific points at which the marks are placed within the confines of the picture plane, is randomised in order to reduce the degree to which the completed work is a result of aesthetic and design decisions made by the author...
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01/05/2014
New paintings.
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25/04/2014
MAYDAY! MAYDAY!
Come and see a few of my paintings at the Arthub Gallery's MAYDAY! MAYDAY! charity exhibition in aid of The Ahoy and The Deborah Ubee Trust this weekend. The opening is this coming Friday, May 2nd.
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18/04/2014
Mo' money, mo' problems.
Given that the first mark is the worst, and that I am not pursuing reduction as my main source of interest my inclination is to move in the other direction and add rather than subtract. Of course, as has been well documented (by me), with the addition of more painted marks comes increased risk of failure, specifically the exponentially multiplied possibility of poor composition...
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04/04/2014
Could you be the most beautiful girl in the world?
Was making this thing fun? Well, there wasn't any actual painting involved, so not as much as if there had been, but there is something undeniably satisfying about a blank canvas. It's a nice object, easy to make and pleasant to behold considered on material qualities alone. Furthermore, stupid as it is there seemed no reason not to make it...
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21/03/2014
New paintings
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15/03/2014
Less than zero?
In aiming to retain the guidelines set out at the start of Preachin' in a language that's completely new - those that seek to enhance enjoyment over other concerns, a minimal approach has necessarily prevailed, but by sharpening my focus onto a single brushstroke the opportunity for error is inevitably introduced. Previously I have suggested that on a purely technical level ...
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28/02/2014
At least things can't get any worse.
The focus of these paintings is a single mark. Maintaining the production criteria set out at the start of the series Preachin' in a language that's completely new, the intention is to further distil the act of painting and take the opportunity to appreciate a brush stroke on its own merits. To enjoy the quality and sensation of moving one type of paint across, over or through another, or simply against an unpainted support alone...
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14/02/2014
I refuse to take it all so seriously, it's such a strange activity, far too peculiar to be taken any other way.
I have received some unexpected reactions to my recent paintings and accompanying texts. Most surprising is that the responses have not been completely dimissive! I have had a good deal of encouragement and appreciation, but the feedback that has interested me most is the critical...
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17/01/2014
Part VIII
A public memoir and concession to a justified cynic.
1994/2014
Gloss paint on wood
13.6 x 16.0cm
Edition of 10
This work belatedly springs from a conversation about art that I had with a schoolfriend in 1994. To illustrate his less than overwhelmingly convinced angle he drew a red triangle in biro in his notebook and flippantly titled it A Child's Anger. The suggestion, as far as I can recall, was that it sarcastically expressed what he perceived to be the problem with a great deal of contemporary art - that an object of little obvious quality...
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30/12/2013
I wanted to be your Superman, but I turned out such a jerk.
It occurs to me that I am still undermining my own success. I am distracted from my goal, funnily enough by the desire to offer an explanation such as this. I have made a concerted effort to ensure that I am fulfiling my aims in painting to the best of my ability and it remains enjoyable both in process and upon completion, but there is one criteria I have ignored which, whilst already observed, still detracts from all others. It is the desire for recognition...
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10/12/2013
If I had the strength I might pick up my sword and make some attempt to resist.
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19/11/2013
Open containers that sing songs.
I'm envious of musicians. In my opinion and from my experience music is generally a more immediate medium through which to impart or ilicit an emotional response than painting. A sweeping statement no doubt, but I can give an example based on something my wife said to me. Whilst working hard on a playlist for our wedding reception, listening to a large part of our CD collection she observed that just a simple key change or a couple of chords, even when isolated from the composition as a whole, can have a direct and profound effect on atmosphere and mood. Basically just 2 notes, one after the other can fire memory, imagination.…
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31/10/2013
Red and yellow and pink and green and all the others in between.
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24/10/2013
To professionalism!
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18/10/2013
Touch the sun or die trying.
Or not. Whatever.
I do take this painting/image making thing fairly seriously. I'd like to think that I've shown enough 'give-a-shit' for this to be evident. I think it's important for anyone doing anything for fun that they commit to it, however insignificant it may be. For the 30 minutes a week that I play football (enthusiasm easily trumps ability) I really do care about the result and work hard to win. There is a parallel to be drawn with my painting here. In both cases I am capable and keen to throw myself in with passion, determination and a fierce will to succeed, however I can just as easily see either for exactly what it is. Completely meaningless...
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11/10/2013
She crams them whole in her mouth...
Some more new paintings.
Plus a minor design adjustment. Previous and
forthcoming texts can now be found under 'Words'
in the menu.
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4/10/2013
It is a far far better thing that I do now than I have ever done.
I have discussed the primary, most important reasons for adopting this particular style of painting. A new, refreshing and liberating approach for me, and one which thus far has yielded a degree of success in addressing and fulfiling the criteria set out. I am enjoying making these paintings. I am actually making them! And I am pleased with the results. However there are other aspects born of the strictly prescribed ‘production formula’ and the context in which they are made (i.e. by me) that address concerns I have about contemporary art and its wider associations...
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25/9/2013
Gambazooz
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18/9/2013
Part VII
I'll tell you one thing. He's not building a playhouse for the children (Windom Earl's cabin).
2013
Photograph
20.5 x 18.0cm
Edition of 20
Having held onto the image of the burnt out tower block for so long (Part V), it seemed odd that until now I had never attempted to replicate the effect used therein – that of negativising an image to introduce new qualities. In Part VI I effectively inverted small and specific areas of two images by adding light shapes into windows which were originally dark...
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31/8/2013
Pleasures of the flesh.
Having outlined my approach to the series Preachin' in a language that's completely new and received positive and encouraging feedback I am inclined to expand on certain aspects a little. As I touched upon previously, possibly the most important part of these works is the physical nature and the experience of making them and so this seems the best place to begin...
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24/8/2013
Better fuckin' believe it.
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16/8/2013
Preachin' in a language that's completely new.
A little info on why I'm making something different:
Over the course of 2012 it became clear that to continue making large scale work in the series If this is paradise I wish I had a lawnmower on anything like a regular basis was highly impractical. Lack of time and suitable space rendered it an abortive pursuit and as such for close to a year I made no paintings at all...
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14/8/2013
More paintings.
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2/8/2013
Paintings.
I've added a new 'Paintings' section and reorganised the menus on the left slightly. Just a little bit of work in there for the time being, but more will follow presently.
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30/6/2013
Part VI
What's he building in there?
2013
A pair of collages
10.1 x 15.1cm each
Edition of 7
Comprisng a pair of small collages, this piece began as plans for 2 paintings to add to my ongoing series of domestic interiors. For reasons mentioned in previous posts I decided it was necessary to find an alternative medium through which to realise them...
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11/5/2013
Part V
Fire walk with me (Hind House).
2003 - 2013...
Photograph
22.8 x 15.0cm
Edition of 45
In the late 1990s I used to take the train north from Kings Cross on my way home. Not far into my journey I would travel past a quartet of identical tower blocks in the middle distance. One particular block always caught my attention as I passed because of the oddly neat manner in which one of the upper windows had been burnt out. That one flat had been incinerated quite completely, whilst those left and right remained apparently untouched...
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1/5/2013
Part IV
I got a pretty little mouth underneath all the foamin'.
2012
Inkjet with acrylic in card frame
16.4 x 13.9cm
Edition of 45
When I made this work in 2012 it was intended as a humorous, self deprecating aside to my series investigating the introduction of abstract forms into figurative images (see Part II). It retains the abstract/figurative motif I was using, but in this case the coloured shape falls into the picture plane rather than sitting on top of it, becoming a board that the child holds over their face in a comical, surreal manner rather than a purely abstract form appearing to...
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29/4/2013
Images.
Added further images illustrating the series to which Part III belongs.
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14/4/2013
Part III
Deathmask for a house mouse.
2004/2013
A series of 50 monoprints
25.3 x 20.3cm
This series is a reworking of a piece I made in 2003. It was something of a spontaneous idea that came about when in unfortunate circumstances a mouse that had set up residence with my housemates and I in Peckham met it's end in the collapse of a large pile of heavy planks. When I recovered his outwardly uninjured body from the wreckage I was taken with the notion to make a work using it...
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12/4/2013
Images
Added further images illustrating the series to which Part II belongs.
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10/4/2013
A Review.
Click here to read a review in a-n magazine of the exhibition in which Part I was first exhibited in 2007
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7/4/2013
Why I'm just giving it away.
I have been painting pictures and organising exhibitions on a casual basis for the last 10 years. I studied painting at university and following that continued to work from various studio spaces. Since vacating my last studio in 2009 my output has dwindled as time and space for such endeavours has diminished, but my desire to make new work remains. Naturally I have persevered with making paintings and although I can claim to have had some success, it has become clear that I don’t feel satisfied working in fits and starts to produce relatively little...
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1/4/2013
Part II
Abstract Painting I (An unwitting homage to John Stezaker).
2012
Postcard with gloss paint
12.2 x 21.5cm
Edition of 32
Whilst I have always been interested in making figurative work, more recently the use of abstract form has begun to creep into my thinking; however I find it much more difficult to make a successful abstract image than a figurative one. A figurative image is anchored in reality...
Continue reading
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24/3/2013
Introduction.
In the summer of 2012 I tentatively undertook to begin a postal art project , primarily to afford myself the opportunity to make and present work on a semi regular basis, an endeavour that for various reasons had become increasingly difficult to continue in the form I had been pursuing. My audience; the recipients of the various things I made, numbered 20 of my close friends and family and the work I made and sent out comprised a number of small scale limited edition prints in various media...
Part I
The Universal Church of Goddamn Fraud.
2007
Photograph
15.3 x 20.2cm
Edition of 100
This photograph, part of an exhibition at the AMUTI gallery and bookshop in Euston in 2007, depicts an advertisement pasted up on a hoarding under one of the railway bridges around Finsbury Park station. The poster, advocating the services of faith healer Michael Reid has been torn away on the left to reveal...
30/11/2014