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.

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.

"Portal" - from New Works by Tom Hilborn, 2010

“Portal,” from Tom Hilborn’s collection of art, entitled New Works.

This painting measures 48 x 48 inches, a large work and was first exhibited at The Art Exchange in April-May.  The photograph of this painting is courtesy of the Art Exchange in London, Ontario.

Acrylic paint on board.

Primordial Future #17

Tom Hilborn’s latest works of art are currently on display in two separate locations in London, Canada.  One of his exhibitions of paintings is at the Il Tenore restaurant and the other is at The Art Exchange on Wortley Road.  I attended his opening last Friday night at the Art Exchange.

The Art Exchange exhibition runs from April 12th  to May 1, 2010.  Gallery owner Al Stewart is excited to present Tom’s newest works, a collection of 23 paintings.  Let’s call this collection simply, “New Works by Tom Hilborn.”

New Works by Tom Hilborn is a series of 23 paintings, mostly acrylic on board.  Many of the paintings are three dimensional, their depth built up by the use of either modeling paste, or almost jig saw shapes of cut masonite.  The colors of the paint are softer, but one still sees not only the abstract but also one finds planets, and landscapes from the older works by Tom.

Tom’s art has greatly evolved since the Saints and Hards body of work.  Tom told me that there has been a shift away from mythological themes  (to a degree) to the concept of opening things up to  circular patterns to suggest simultaneous implosion and expansion.  The Madonna is still very present in his paintings, but she is surrounded by broken circles, curves, landscapes, horizons which imply a larger circle, planets, and nature.  When I asked Tom why the Madonna is still seen in his work, he replied only with “force of habit, I guess.”

When Tom speaks of his paintings, he mentions the phrase, “it’s all an illusion,” asking me if I knew that Albert Einstein first coined the phrase,  “The Grand Illusion.”

New Works theme of implosion, explosion, and circularity expose an internal reality ouside of the self and the absorption of an external reality.  Tom’s paintings challenge the viewer to look both out and inwardly in order to find balance.  These are more than just “safe” paintings of landscapes to match the color of the living room couch. They will challenge you to an introspection of the Self, a moment of quiet contemplation.

Photo Courtesy of Al Stewart of The Art Exchange Gallery

Tom Hilborn - The Holy Trinity after Rafael

This beautiful piece of art work by Tom Hilborn is called “The Holy Trinity After Rafael” from the Saints and Hards art collection.

It is a beautiful piece of work, based on his impression of the Renaissance artist Rafael, with vibrant colors of gold and blue, a religious Madonna theme, the spherical earth, with representations of nature and geometric shapes throughout the painting.

This painting was created in 2004.

13-08-56 by Tom Hilborn

If you can’t wait until April to see Tom Hilborn’s art exhibition at the Art Exchange exhibit in April of this year, you can see some of Tom’s work on display at the Il Tenore restaurant in London, Canada.

The Il Tenore restaurant is located at 196 Dundas Street, London.  His paintings will be on display until February 19, 2010.  These paintings can be purchased after the exhibit is over.

Hours of operation, Tuesday to Saturday:

11:00 – 2:00 p.m.  Lunch

5:00 – 10:00 p.m. Dinner

Five paintings by Tom are on display.

Earth and Chaos by Tom Hilborn

Canadian artist Tom Hilborn will be exhibiting his work from April 12 – May 1, 2010 at the Art Exchange at 274 Wortley Road, London, Ontario, Canada.  If you have any further questions, please call 519-434-0000 or fax 519-434-8226.

The opening reception will be held April 16, 2010 at 7:30 p.m.

Art gallery hours are 10:00 – 5:30 p.m. Monday to Friday.  Saturday:  10:00 – 5:00 p.m.

For those interested in purchasing the artistic works of Tom Hilborn, you should visit the art gallery before they are all sold out.

You can visit the Art Exchange website at http://www.theartexchange.ca/

This piece of art is called Earth & Chaos.  Chaos which surrounds nature, the earth.