Painting by Tom Dimond
Tom Dimond, Power Struggle, 2016, 39″ x 30″, mixed media collage
Tom Dimond’s mixed media paintings are conceptually based on the ellipsis, punctuation of three dots ( … ) that stand for an omission in writing. Ellipses is the plural form of that word and the plural form for the word ellipse, the name for a specific type of oval shaped geometric form cut from a cone. The title of this show asserts that Dimond engages with both definitions of ellipses, the ellipsis and the ellipse, as foundational to his paintings in this exhibition
Rather than the dots used in writing to imply an omission, Dimond is simply stating what has always been part of all forms of art, an implied reference to something deeper that is not spelled out with specific subject matter. The title suggests that we can and are expected to “fill in” these deeper meanings, which may or may not be the same as the artist’s or other viewers’. That can be difficult for people unfamiliar with art to accept or understand.
The finest of art always has an essential dimension to be read, whether we see it in the subject matter or not. Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam on the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling is not simply the image of two guys. There is intensity, strength, and life imparted into Adam from God’s touch, both God and Adam imagined as human forms. We feel as well as see this through the dramatic juxtaposition of the two figures and the sense of movement expressed visually through their placement on the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling. Their suspension in space, their scale, and many other factors provide this notion of “imparting life and strength”, an abstract idea. The picture is an imagining of creation using a beautiful image.
The depiction of a Buddha figure, usually a lone, monolithic body, balanced between vertical and horizontal masses in a seated pose, visually takes us beyond the person or even personality to a timeless universal state of being that is unknowable in our current incarnation, but is theoretically, at least, a worshiper’s goal. The mass of the figure seems almost inflated and full, but light and effortless. The eyes look within.
Both the Buddha and Michelangelo’s Sistine ceiling express things unknowable on earth, and in our current state of being, but imply that there is more that we cannot understand. It is left to our imagination to interpret what we see through the experience of the artist’s work. We can tell that the artist experienced something. The form communicates that conceptually and emotionally but leaves room for engagement in terms of our own personal experiences, backgrounds, and beliefs. So, there is no one interpretation, but there are touch points of connection that provide some common understanding of the world beyond ourselves. In a sense, the viewer is the one who completes the art.
Tom Dimond, Water Crossing, 2019, 21″ x 31″, mixed media collage
Dimond starts his artist statement by saying: “My approach to painting is based on a need to establish a communication between my inner consciousness and the primary elements of art. I feel that my paintings represent a synthesis between certain aspects of the visual environment and the intellectual and emotional responses encountered in the creative process of painting itself.”
So, looking at Dimond’s work, we rely on the nonverbal action of the paint and visual structures to convey a visceral anxiety and transformation of “Americana”* like one finds in works by Robert Rauschenberg, the Abstract Expressionists, and the Pop artists of the 50’s and 60’s. Dimond’s paintings reverberate with that kind of energy and conflict, as they reflect the turbulence and frustrations of the present.
This notion of art-making is not new, but has been an essence for all great and sincere art. Since WWII, especially since the existential experience of the atomic bomb and the cold war that followed, many artists have endeavored to seek the essence of art through the elimination of subject matter to isolate and focus on visual elements and compositional decisions. These offer stronger emotional statements that take us to a deeper understanding of ourselves, our culture, our psyche, and our existence in this world. Because of such developments, representational art has changed, but there is still more to be explored.
Dimond uses the term “primary art elements”. What are these? One can start by breaking down our visual field into line, shape, texture, space, color, and tonal value. These are the building blocks of any visual image that can be arranged in a myriad of ways. Science even breaks them down further. For instance, sound and color (reflected or refracted light) can be broken down into wave lengths. Space can be two, three or four-dimensional (time), etc. Media, technique and tools used in handling media all have bearing on those visual elements.
It is worthwhile to explore Tom Dimond’s work carefully in terms of how he forms the image, various processes and materials he uses, and the tools he uses. These all employ their visual mark: Dragging a comb through wet paint; transferred images from other sources, the viscosity of various media he uses, take us, as well as the artist’s gesture into the work’s surface. These all have their effects that provide toe-holds toward meaning and provide a richness to the “primary art elements”. Art is art is art. Dimond’s work connects with Buddha or Michelangelo more than one might think, but he connects with our more recent history in the development of visual expression, the abstract expressionists and the pop artists, more directly. Never-the-less, if you can look and see honestly, you will connect with the artist to some extent at least, but the real challenge is to connect with your deeper instincts, your visual, your intellectual, your emotional responses to the objects presented.
*Americana in art: The term is used to categorize many different images that reflect the charm and nostalgia of America’s past. It evokes a sense of patriotism and reflects the history, traditions, folklore, artifacts and culture of the United States.