TOM ARMSTRONG
Tom Armstrong is an artist whose work captivates with its blend of the intriguing, bizarre, and wonderful. He masterfully draws on over three hundred years of art history, skilfully borrowing and reinventing characters, icons, and symbols. Known for his exceptional use of colour, Armstrong's paintings create a life-as-circus cast of characters, interwoven with references to artistic, literary, popular, and deeply personal sources. His art invites endless exploration, each piece a testament to his ability to mesmerize and intrigue.
Trained at the Otago School of Arts in the 80s, Armstrong is a fantastically creative artist whose work brings a smile each time you look at it. His use of text is a fundamental theme in his work, floating within the two-dimensional stew of vibrancy and form existing in a universe, completely their own.
Each work is a story to be read, a connection to be made and a memory to be had. There is a special kind of atmosphere surrounding his work, dream-like yet so real. His representational reconfiguration of images we all know creates a distinct visual language within his work, a blackbird, oblong and awkward yet still a blackbird or a green area of paint that is undoubtedly a hill. His work sits comfortably in the two- dimensional, with no reason to leave.
Portrait of The Artist