When AM visited Tom French in his Newcastle Studio earlier this year, we discovered the artist deep within an experimental phase. Whilst Tom is recognized for his stunning charcoal figurative works, we witnessed the first stages of him working on a new layering technique involving his traditional drawing skills, but also combining multiple painted film layers over the drawings to present an extra level of depth and abstraction to his work.
We also caught a glimpse of another part of Tom’s oeuvre as work in progress – his experimentation with figurative compositions in the form of skulls was just being started. These hyperreal images carry a healthy level of surrealism in their form, and seem to have proven very popular as Tom has released further images. It seems that Mr French has been busy building a body of work with these techniques since we saw him last in readiness for his first exhibition stateside at Vincent Michael Gallery in Philadelphia.
“Hidden Realizations” is a two person show with Chloe Urban, where both artists take on the topics of identity and illusion. The exhibition officially opens Friday September 3rd, and with a private preview night and artist meet & greet on Wednesday September 1st. One to mark on your calendar for sure. Take a look at some further preview images of the original works and also some prints after the jump.
” />
