Rock 'n Roll Trio

Painting by Canadian artist, Tom Hilborn, entitled “Rock ‘n Roll Trio.”

Acrylic on masonite board, from the Saints and Hards collection.

This abstract painting is of three rockabilly musicians.

Portrait of Ray Smith

Portrait of Ray Smith by Tom Hilborn.

Acrylic on board.

Ray Smith and the Country Boys, of rockabilly fame.  From the Saints & Hards collection.

Born in London, Canada, in 1956, Tom Hilborn attended Beal Art School where he studied watercolour and drawing with Herb Ariss and Burt Kloezman.  It was Kloezman who suggested to Tom that a creative potential can be generated through the drawing exercise.

Taking that idea to heart, Tom applied it to the creation of his paintings of early Renaissance figures which he juxtaposes against figures from the early American Rock ‘n Roll movement.  His use of the Madonnas in many of his paintings is not for religious reasons but rather to attract the viewer of his work into the work by presenting something familiar to its audience.

Tom also applies this idea to the music he plays in performance with a band called “The Black Holes”.  “The Black Holes” began playing in underground clubs in the mid 1990s.  His band’s musical practice is based on Rockabilly and early Jazz hot music of the 1920s, the music of Fletcher Henderson, Thomas Fats Waller, James P. Johnson and Louis Armstrong.

Tom uses a variety of media in a single work, painting with acrylics on masonite as canvas and building up texture with molding paste and grit for a three dimensional effect.

“Saints and Hards” is the title of an art exhibit put together when Tom’s art was displayed at the D.B. Weldon library at the University of Western Ontario.

A “hard”, by the way, is a word Tom recalls from his childhood used to describe tough guys.

Tom Hilborn is a Canadian born artist from London, Canada.

He is a self trained artist who has exhibited in many exhibitions in Canada. He trained himself by learning to draw from the drawings of Leonard Da Vinci.  The influence of da Vinci is strong in his paintings which blends the classical with his impressions of rockabilly idols from the early American rock scene.

Tom is also an musician and plays and performs regularly in a band.

This website will be become an online exhibition of his artwork for all the world to see his works and the beautiful paintings that he creates.

Tom Hilborn.com is made by a close friend who also photographed the works on this website.

There is no reproduction of these works without the permission of the photographer and artist.  Please use our contact form if you have any questions.

Enjoy the works of Tom Hilborn.