JOHN TOMLINSON

The face and its expression is central to my drawing and drawing animation series.  It is always where I start to draw. Every stroke and mark follows that point.  The face has infinite nuances of expression, each lending itself to the evocative narrative I am seeking.  Few of the faces look at the viewer, allowing a space where the viewer and the art work might arrange a mutual agreement of confrontation.   In the "small gestures/Modes of Escape" animated drawing series and the "Dark Storms" series, in every drawing the eyes look at a naked figure entering a room - or maybe he is leaving.  That drawn image has its own reason to be there; it is a sight-line from the eyes; it is a visual moment that invites interpretation.​

I WANT...​
my work to be seen as it is, in real air and space and light.  Digital images, photographs and videos are necessary representations since the late 1990s.  I know all the reasons they are used; I will use them as I must; however, I want viewers to see my work straight on, proportionate to their presence, so that they may complete the circle of perception and interpretation.​