What is Gridmania? – Supplementary text for the ‘Gridmania’ series
Gridmania is the feeling of being trapped within the grid, of having to comply relentlessly to its rules and sacrificing your identity for the sake of the system. Everyone is an agent of the grid and has a role to play in its function. When you go to work in the morning you pay a…
Escapism – Supplementary text for the ‘Escape!’ series
‘Escape!’ is a portrayal of the longing to escape the constrictions of the modern world, or a journey of evading the tolls of modern life. The stick figure is a representation of the human, void of class, gender, and race, to become a symbol of the ‘hero’, running from the confines of the painting. Each…
Book Review of ‘Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body, and Primitive Accumulation’ by Silvia Fedirici
Silvia Federici is an Italian-American scholar, feminist, and activist known for her significant contributions to the fields of feminist theory, political economy, and social activism. Born in 1942 in Italy, she has played a pivotal role in advancing the understanding of gender, capitalism, and labor, particularly in the context of women’s struggles. “Caliban and the…
Making the Invisible Visible: My Analysis of the Hilma af Klint and Piet Mondrian Exhibition at Tate Modern.
During the time of creating my latest series of work I went to see the exhibition of Hilma Klint and Piet Mondrian at Tate Modern. Both painters went through dramatic transitions throughout their careers in painting, beginning with very typical styles such as landscapes and still lives to completely unique and individual conceptual practices heavily…
Learning from the Past. Supplementary Text for ‘Alchemy, Mysticism, and Pictograms’ Series
My most recent series of paintings, ‘Alchemy, Mysticism, and Pictograms’ have been inspired by the book ‘Alchemy & Mysticism’ which contains a catalogue of the esoteric art of the Middle Ages, giving in-depth details of the nature and reasoning behind the pieces. Art for the alchemist was not merely a job of creating an image,…
How I Came to do Painting: A Brief Autobiography
Since I was young I have loved entertaining people. Making people smile, gasp, contemplate, etc. has always filled me with joy. I’m not sure why. Maybe it is a part of my DNA, maybe it is a mechanism for fitting in. Whatever it is, it is an inherent part of my personality and has informed…
The Fundamentally Flawed Quality of a Painting: A Critique of the Political Economy of the Modern Art Market
Introduction In this essay I will be using Marxist theories to discuss the Modern Art Market in deciphering the part of a painting that makes it so impressive as a commodity of exchange. To me, the fundamentally flawed quality of a painting is its utility as an asset, and how wealthy capitalists are able to…
How and in What Ways Can Art be Considered Healing?
I felt a strong desire to understand the fundamental utility of art in the modern context we live in today when starting my most recent series of work. This, I felt, would influence the nature of themes I would address and, in some unconscious way, affect my process. In reading Alain de Botton and John…
Climbing the Mountain. My Supplementary text for ‘Experience is a Mountain’ series.
The beginning of 2022 was an existentially daunting time with doom and gloom becoming a commonality of everyone’s daily menu when reading the news or hearing the latest tragedy to occur around the world. This inspired a dystopic, neo-punk aesthetic in my work that was informed by some of the new sources I had been…
Painting Through Testing Times. My Supplementary Text for ‘Revelations and Reformations’ series.
Recently I added a fair few new paintings to my page and wanted to post a supplementary text to give some context to the new ideas and changes that have bloomed. I have gone down many unexpected avenues in search of inspiration, and have found much to inform a new way of painting, hence the…
Three Critical Components to my Practice
Within my practice I explore numerous things, a select few being words, colour, and imagery which I will discuss in this order. My interest in using words in paintings originated from reading poetry, psychology, and philosophy. Language has been very important in the evolution of humankind, originating from deciphering which foods and herbs were poisonous…
Tom Allwinton Art 