About Tommy >< Carlsson

• Painter and graphic artist
• Born 1958 in Sweden
• Lives in Långasjö (Småland) and Stockholm
• Group- and individual exhibitions since 1981
• Numerous educational journeys
• Painting in oil with distinctive trompe-l`oeil effect
• Since 1997 lithographs

Realistic painting has been fascinating me since the beginning of my artistic development. For some time the classic art of painting still lifes, applying the techniques of the 16th and 17th century, was my main area of interest. In the course of time, for me, the object of the still life increasingly gained significance while the importance of the background receded.

For several years now I am concentrating my painting on the intensive engagement with materials and surfaces, shadow and light. I believe that items, which are a part of our lives, have a soul. The painting itself consequently becomes a real object, its composition connects and changes items and in this way creates something new, symbolic, reality and illusion all at once. I find my motifs in my personal environment, be it a door, a cupboard or a letterbox, always in natural size, often with a symbolic significance.

Items and the notable marks of use reflect the spirit of the time, preserve the past, make aware of the present and point into the future. During this process they change, enter relationships with each other, complex and lively.

In this way I let a new reality emerge on my canvas, a room inviting to enter. An expedition commences. I am opening a door to a seemingly real world, which however only thoughts and dreams can enter: a scope for fantasy.

November 2008