Tom Jean Webb

Biography

My work started off as a means of transportation. To depict a place created and imagined with a sense of romance and nostalgia. I became interested in the idea of starting a dialogue between the imagined and real, to see what this new reality and I could create.

To do so I started to take trips to the lands of my work, specifically the American Southwest. It has created an interesting dynamic between the leading and learning forces of being, art leading life or life leading art. Making work inspired by the realness in what I find but also allowing space for the added artistic creation or surreal.

I use story telling in my work, I love the idea of a visual language and how this can portray a narrative. I see my  individual works as frames of one long continual film. When these frames are laid out together patterns emerge. Objects, colors and shapes all start to inform each other. To develop an idea of art as communication, to allow conversation with the viewer

There’s an ordered dreaminess to my paintings. The solitary figures, lonely landscapes, and palette lend a certain romance, a definitive line which surround everything in the images, from stones to mesas to snakes, make the individual elements in the paintings look like pieces in a puzzle. Theres a developed idea of investigating the use of space, specifically how to create room for an unknown or unforeseen in an artwork. To create work that allows someone to find room to breathe, to participate and discover. I want to offer a window or moment into space,  a space that can speak through the process of absence, a voice through silence.

I create work to try understand my role as an artist and my relationship to my artistic practice, how it affects my response to the natural world and what it means to offer my subjective response to it. A practice in being present, seeing, exploring, decorating and communicating.
Playing with making work that speaks of the real, the surreal, fantasy and the found.

What’s your background?

I was born in England and found an affinity with art from an early age, I felt it was how I could best express myself as I struggled academically. My family were very creative in their own ways, all with projects on the go, it was a good lesson for me, to see how to follow one's passions. Eventually I went to a contemporary art gallery for the first time and was able to see where art existed in the world, it was an incredibly exciting moment for me which led to applying to University to study fine art and my ongoing art practice today. I often feel like I'm on the same journey I started as a kid, I feel very connected to that part of my journey and use it as a tool today. 

What does it mean to you to win the Collectors Art Prize?

It's nice to be recognized as it is confirmation someone is interacting with my work, that there has been time spent looking at, understanding or having a conversation with what I have created. 

What do you think is the role of art in the world today?

I'm not sure I could sum up completely one role, as it offers many equally important roles. For me it is to offer an honest perspective on the process of living, our reaction to life and ourselves and to allow people to honestly express themselves. The world generally has many rules and I love the idea that with art it exists to have none, with that comes an immense opportunity to play, have fun, create, interact and express. 

What would it be if you could change one thing about the art world?

I would like the art world to have greater participation from the general public. Outside of the art world or creative industries there is a limited understanding or idea of what the art world is, I think that's a great shame as much can be learnt or felt through engaging with all elements of art. I know from my own early education, art was taught in a very limited way so there is much people are missing out on. 

What are your most significant professional achievements?

Studying art and getting my degree was important as it helped nurture my ability to analyse the work, to try and understand my process and how that relates to the work I make going forward. I think every exhibition I have had is equally important in regards to a professional achievement, the pride and how fortunate I feel to have had the opportunity but also the lessons one always learns along the way. We make work to make the next work, having exhibitions is a very significant part of that process and so I'm very thankful for that. 

What do you wish to tell viewers about your work that might not come out explicitly? What do you hope to inspire with your artwork?

One of the main things is that the work I make is a process that echoes my real life. I was born just outside London and grew up drawing romantic ideas of the American South West, eventually I realized I needed to come out here and step into my work to fully live it and see the effects that would have. So the work I create is a reflection, record and contribution to what I find and feel based on the very real reaction to my decisions arrived at from the work I make, an ever expanding creative loop. 

What advice would you give to the upcoming generation of artists?

Firstly, to keep at it, keep working. Creativity breeds creativity, work is born of work. Secondly, to understand how important it is to try to be a part of the art world and not just solely focused on one's own art practice. To promote friends and colleagues, help out when you can, generally be a positive influence.

In what direction would you like to see your career go in the next five years?

To continue to create the time and resources to help complete my artistic endeavors and to continue to build relationships in the art world that can help those ideas come to fruition. To maintain my sense of fun and play in the creation of my work and to keep an honest sense of reflection in the process. 

Country USA

Website https://tomjeanwebb.com