Tom Hilborn’s new art exhibit is at the Art Fusion Gallery in London, Canada.  All new works of art in an exhibition called “Whiteout.”  Art exhibition is open December 18 – 19, 2010.

Why did he call his new collection “Whiteout?”  Tom says it has nothing to do with the recent bad weather and whiteouts happening almost everywhere across North America.  Speak with Tom at the latest exhibition of his work at Art Fusion and discover why he called his news works “Whiteout.”

Watch the latest video from Art Fusion as Tom plays in his band surrounded by his art from that exhibit.

How's That Sam? 2006

This painting by Tom Hilborn is called “How’s That Sam? (Bill Riley with Abysal Fish)” painted in 2006.

Tom has told me that this painting represents Bill Riley‘s soliciting a response from Sam Phillips (the American record producer) having just recorded “Flyin’ Saucer Rock ‘n Roll” which was Bill Riley’s biggest hit.  Riley recorded this song with his band, The Little Green Men at Sun Records in 1957.

This painting is framed, painted in acrylic paint on fiber board. It is available for sale on our buy art page.

What’s the abysal fish doing in the painting, I asked Tom.  Tom uses this image of the abysal fish which lives in the depths and darkness of the oceans, as a suggestion of hydrostatic (water) pressure of 2000 metric tons.  If you want to know more, he says, just call Tom.

Man with a Bow Tie

This painting by Canadian artist Tom Hilborn is called “Man with a Bow Tie”.

It was painted in 2005.  The “Man with a Bow Tie” is painted on fiber board and consists of acrylic and ballpoint pen.  “Man with a Bow Tie” measures 19 3/4″ x 24 1/4 inches.

This is one of the paintings for sale on Tom’s Buy Art page and is for sale for $525.  You can own this painting.  Please use our contact page for inquiries on owning any of Tom Hilborn’s paintings.

Among the major influences on the art of Tom Hilborn (Aug 13, 1956 – ) is a concept put forth by Herb Ariss and Bert Kloezman who taught Tom at Beal Art in London, Ontario in the mid 70s.  The idea is that by engaging in extended sessions of drawing exercise, one’s “battery” is thereby charged up.  In other words:  a motivational potential is generated by the amount of drawing done. Also benefiting from a good workout on the drawing board is that part of us that learns to bring more and more factors into a single focus – when drawing one part of say, a human figure, you want to learn to think of the other related parts and the background shapes at the same time. A polarity existing between the Italian High Renaissance and the American Rock ‘n Roll era is the main source of themes in Tom’s art.  This and any related ideas are set down and in various ways abandoned in favor of the feel that emerges. Sam Phillips is a man famous for wearing out that word “feel.”  “It’s the feel!” he repeated over and over to describe what he wanted to capture on recording tape.  This led to a major focus on his record company, Sun Records in Memphis , Tennessee , as a point from where the global escalation of Rock ‘n Roll emerged. About 450 years earlier in Florence, Italy (not to be confused with Florence, Alabama, where Sam is from), the Italian High Renaissance marked the infancy of the western world view, very different from the sense of American world domination that led to the Rock ‘n Roll era. This is what Tom has to say about his art.

Photo of Tom Hilborn by Janet Donnelly.

Abstration

I spent the day recently at Tom’s house which he describes as his cottage and escape.  I had driven madly from my city Toronto to his town, the town of Dundas.  Never been there before.  It took me about an hour just to get out of Toronto because of traffic.  Then I’m following a round-about route through the countryside.  I’m thinking why the hell does Tom live here way out in the middle of nowhere?  I find driving through the countryside rather frustrating because it all, well, looks the same to me.  All of a sudden, I’m driving down this winding road into the valley where you’ll find Dundas.   Tom lives here.  It’s a very pretty little village like town.  So that’s why Tom lives here.  Ah – I get it.

Time was limited.  We photographed some of Tom’s works of art, ate lunch, madly scribbled away on the backs of paintings and note paper, details of the paintings.  I showed him his website on my little laptop.  He gave me an handwritten article to put on this website.  (That’s coming shortly).

Interpretation No. 325

Today, I hope to share some of the images of Tom’s paintings and post them.  At a later date, I’ll be posting more of his paintings.  Of course, some of these artworks are for sale here on Tom’s online art gallery which you can check out.   Details of the paintings will be found on the Buy Art page, as soon as it is updated.

If you want to see a larger image of the paintings shown here in this article, just click on the image.  This is true for any of the art works images by Tom you’ll find on the Tom Hilborn website.  The photographs have to be downloaded from my camera and then tidied up in PhotoShop.

Interpretation No. 567

And, guys, if you have any comments on Canadian artist, Tom Hilborn and his works of art, please feel free to post them. Love to hear your comments, opinions.   Spammers, forget it. You’ll get an instant “delete.”  This is a serious art site. He’s got a solo art show opening October 28th at Il Tenore and Art Fusion Gallery in London.  Don’t miss it – there will be drinks, live music and the art show.  I think it’s called “Divine poke in the neck”.  Cool enough name.

So stay tuned to Tom’s online art gallery for new images of Tom’s paintings and check Tom on Facebook and Twitter.  He has both ya know.

St. James the Greater After Leonardo

This artistic study of “St. James the Great After Leonardo” is much like another painting of Tom’s, also named with the same name, St. James the Great After Leonardo.

The drawings of Leonardo da Vinci were a great influence to Tom during the years when he focused on the classical Renaissance saints.

In this painting, the face of the saint is embedded in the moon, within the night sky.  Themes of nature and the world around us can be viewed in the painting and the theme of the circularity within life which emerges in recent years in his new art work can already be seen.

This is an acrylic painting on masonite board by Tom.

Tom Hilborn will be exhibiting new paintings under the umbrella group Art Fusion at Il Tenore September 25 and 26, 2010.

Tom Hilborn at Art Fusion Fest

Art Fusion, run by Ryan Mahy, regularly brings together artists and musicians to “show their stuff” at Il Tenore.

Tom is also an accomplished musician, in case you didn’t know.  He has belonged to two groups, Osterborg and the Black Holes, a rockabilly band.

Since 1994, he has been a member of the Black Holes.  He plays guitar, but he doesn’t sing.  He joined Osterborg in 2007.  Both bands will be appearing on the weekend of the 25th and 26th of September.  On Saturday night, he will be playing with Osterborg at Il Tenore.  On Sunday, he will be appearing with the Black Holes at Il Tenore, out back.  Something you shouldn’t miss if you want to see and hear another side of Tom’s persona.

In the meantime, Tom is currently working on paintings to be exhibited at Il Tenore.

What he’s been up to lately?  Tom’s been working on the under paintings of his newest works of art.  He been painting in a studio in a historical building called the Old York Hotel on York Street in London, Ontario, Canada,  where he rents a studio there.

With the under paintings, it’s a combination of drawing and building up a kind of sculpture on the canvas with modeling clay over the drawings.  In the third and final stage, Tom paints in a kind of expressionistic manner, no longer adhering to his early Renaissance style methods.  He says, it sets the ground work up for his final paintings.  Tom is evolving and moving forward with his art.

We can’t wait to see what Tom Hilborn’s been up to lately with his art, paintings and music.