About Thomas

Baltimore City

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Embodied Perspective

My work examines the visual and corporeal understanding of space. As a starting point, I take an uncompromising first-person perspective that forces viewers to see compositional elements as either connected or estranged.


In my paintings I fragment the compositions with body parts, such as nose shadows and arms. These elements obstruct the view, but also orient the viewer within an embodied perspective. The body orients vision in space. And from the interplay between space, sight and body, I paint. Working with dimensions such as wingspan, body height, and hand length, I paint in life-size so that my actions while painting enact bodily movements.

  • Headspace
    Headspace
    2014, acrylic and oil on canvas, 50in x 56in
  • Coach Comfort
    Coach Comfort
    2014, oil on canvas, 56in x 36in
  • Bearings
    Bearings
    2014, oil on linen on wood panel, 36in x 48in
  • Table Tennis
    Table Tennis
    2014, oil on canvas, 48in x 36in
  • Moonhunters
    Moonhunters
    2015, oil on canvas, 47.5in x 95in
  • Ether
    Ether
    2015, acrylic and oil on shaped canvas, 94in x 36in
  • Rearview
    Rearview
    2014, oil and acrylic on canvas, 47in x 47in
  • Quarter Turn, Quarter Turn
    Quarter Turn, Quarter Turn
    2014, oil on canvas, 22in x 60in
  • March Snow
    March Snow
    2014, acrylic and oil on canvas, 72in x 60in
  • Stroll
    Stroll
    2014, acrylic and oil on canvas, 48in x 60in

Dioramas

I make dioramas with parallactic illusions. Simply put, as you move, their compositions change. Using foamboard, yarn and reflective Mylar, I construct chambered objects and paint their facets with geometric shapes derived from linear perspective. These two-dimensional shapes straddle multiple planes, exposing the slippage between actual space and perspectival illusion. I am interested in this real, but hard to fathom, boundary between the conceptualization of space and our orientation within it.
  • Dois Irmãos
    Dois Irmãos
    2016, acrylic, yarn and foamboard, 18in x 24in x 9in
  • Untitled
    Untitled
    2017, acrylic on foamboard, 11in x 24in x 4in
  • Wedged
    Wedged
    2016, acrylic on foamboard, 25in x 22in x 17in
  • Asides
    Asides
    2016, acrylic on foamboard, 14in x 14in x 5in
  • Corridor II
    Corridor II
    2017, acrylic on foamboard, 11in x 24in x 4in
  • Vestibule
    Vestibule
    2016, acrylic on foamboard, 14in x 13in x 8in
  • Red Shift
    Red Shift
    2016, acrylic, Mylar, cardboard and light, 5in x 12in x 4in
  • One-Pointer
    One-Pointer
    2016, acrylic, screen, tacks and cardboard, 14in x 12in x 4in
  • Impinged
    Impinged
    2016, acrylic on foamboard, 11in x 24in x 4in
  • Noncompete
    Noncompete
    2016, acrylic, yarn and cardboard, 13in x 16.5in x 7.5in

Head Gear

This series is a continued exploration of embodied perspective with particular focus on the bilateral structure of faces, what are worn on them, and how that influences seeing. Work in this body is 2D and 3D and examines both the interior and exterior of the head and the liminal membrane between.
  • Vacay
    Vacay
    2015, oil and acrylic on canvas, 54in x 36in
  • Pig Pen
    Pig Pen
    2015, oil on canvas, 64in x 94.5in
  • Lazy Eye
    Lazy Eye
    2015, acrylic on cardboard, 14in x 28in x 13in
  • Awake
    Awake
    Awake, 2014, acrylic and oil on canvas, 60in x 60in
  • Free
    Free
    2015, acrylic and oil on canvas on MDF board, 49in x 20in
  • Nose Nose
    Nose Nose
    2015, acrylic and oil on shaped canvas diptych, 40in x 36in (as installed)
  • Homefry
    Homefry
    2014, oil on canvas, 47.5in x 47.5in
  • Trifocalled
    Trifocalled
    2015, oil on canvas, 38in x 60in
  • Basker
    Basker
    2015, oil and acrylic on canvas on MDF board, 18in x 24in
  • Lightheaded
    Lightheaded
    2016, acrylic, Mylar, foamboard and cardboard, 21in x 12in x 7.5in