* All images used with permission. Please do not distribute without first contacting the artist.
Tom Colcord was born on the west side of Indianapolis in 1990 where he discovered art at Ben Davis High School. There he studied painting and drawing with Larry Hurt, a deeply admired figure in the Indianapolis art scene and larger community. Here Tom discovered that art could be more than just fun or used for therapy, it could be a path to a richer life. Tom continued his artistic education at Indiana University Bloomington where he received his BFA in Painting.
Tom explains the work by saying, “Conceptually I am interested in creating a universe similar to our own but different in its environment and inhabitants. In the 21st century mankind’s idea of reality is discombobulated. Due to an over abundance of outside influences we have lost a healthy perception on each other, our lives, and the value in them. It is then appropriate that perceptual painting help correct these inaccuracies in the way we perceive the needs of the environment and its inhabitants by revealing an alternate possibility that is radically different. To manage this I break rules in floral arranging, animal interaction, and evolution to highlight the difference between this world and ours. This place becomes similar enough to our own world to be recognizable but strange enough to make the viewer know that something is amiss. I achieve a sense of tension that permeates the landscape between themes of life and death, familiar and wild. This sense of tension is related to the vagueness of dreams and visions because only in false realities can we find perverse monsters hidden beneath the foliage. These creatures represent an ugly or beautiful truth hidden deep within the human subconscious highlighting the uncertainty in life.”
