Exhibitions

SELECTIONS

Tinney Contemporary / 237 5th Ave. N. February 17, 2018 - March 31, 2018

Tom Brydelsky

Tinney Contemporary is pleased to present Selections, a collection of new work by Tom Brydeslky. This collection is broken up into four sections categorized by Landscapes, Figurative, Florals, and Abstraction.

LANDSCAPES

Tom Brydelsky’s landscapes serve as imagined scenarios that are inspired by the natural world around us. This series draws from the historical genre of Plein air painting practiced by such icons as; Claude Monet, Camille Pissaro and Pierre-August Renoir who were driven by the transference of time, space, movement and essence of place within painting. Brydelsky’s work aims to build upon their earlier technology of paint and brush by incorporating multi-media elements of photography, encaustic and collage. Also inspired by American 19th Century philosopher and naturalist, Henry David Thoreau, his landscape paintings seek truth in the remotest of spaces as with Walden Pond. They reflect countless hours of wandering through various locations seeking out spaces that resonate a mystical serenity. Once found, often hundreds of photographs are taken of these environments and the objects that inhabit them.

In the studio, Brydelsky manipulate these images digitally, deconstructing and re-combining them while incorporating various textures, collage elements and colors to re-invent the feeling that a particular scene evoked. The result is printed using archival inks and paper, mounted onto a wood panel and becomes the base for an encaustic painting. The encaustic is poured, brushed and heated into grid-like or striped patterns, which mirror my continued interest in abstraction and the role it plays in evoking emotion. The translucent quality of encaustic directly applied to the surface augments whatever atmospheric condition the image holds. In addition, it is a media that allows for a broad range of surface textures and, by its very nature, speaks of the fragility of life and memory.

FIGURATIVE

Tom Brydelsky’s figurative work is a manifestation of many carefully observed and photographically documented people in motion and the environments they inhabit. He synthesizes these photos into imagined scenarios in which individuals, either in groups or alone, travel in specific directions with what seems like a definitive purpose, although the journey's outcome is intentionally left unknown.

He creates digital linear drawings on top of imagined landscapes, which serve as backgrounds for these works. Figures that have been digitally altered are layered on top, abstracted to erase their individuality, and thus transformed into symbols to describe the movement that unfolds in these scenarios. The resulting image is printed using archival inks and paper and mounted onto a wood or canvas panel. As in Brydelsky’s landscape and floral work, encaustic is applied to add a translucent, atmospheric quality to the surface. Oil-based colors are applied in stripes of various thicknesses over this layer of encaustic. Occasionally, these same figures are re-printed, cut out, and collaged on top as a final layer. A subtle shift in their placement evokes movement and enhances the narrative. He is interested in further developing his interest in figurative abstraction by using only a silhouette, which is placed within the composition using graphite. Brydelksy’s intention is to explore our individual and collective journeys, the space and movement we create within.

FLORALS

Brydelsky’s floral works investigate color, light and shadow. These are executed in a similar way as his landscape work. Photos of flowers are digitally manipulated, deconstructed and re-combined while incorporating various textures and colors. The result is printed using archival inks and paper, mounted onto a wood panel and becomes the base for an encaustic painting. The encaustic is poured, brushed and heated into grid-like or striped patterns, which mirror his continued interest in abstraction and the role it plays in evoking emotion.

ABSTRACTIONS

This recent series of abstract paintings is deeply rooted in the spiritual. Each painting, a fearless experiment, deals with personal aspects of the self through a process-oriented approach that abandons any conceptual idea. Instead they surrender to intuition alone, exploring the rawness of expressionistic love, loss, pleasure and pain. Each painting was born out of his earlier narrative paintings that have been worked and re-worked into geometric compositions recording each moment with a variety of gestures and mixed materials including oil paint, encaustic and collage. The wax beneath has been scored into horizontal and vertical bands. Oil paint is applied with a spackling knife, brushes abandoned, creating a thick sensuous surface while allowing the image below to peek through. They are very strong, physical works, architectural in their size and composition and display a reflection on love, loss and impermanence.