|
Biography
 | | Photo by Anna Mastfer |
Thomas Shelford began a fine art career in 2005 after years of working in New York City as a professional web site designer and illustrator. His artwork emphasizes skill and beauty, combining a classical sense of sculptural realism with modernist compositional ideas.
He describes his style as "Realism with modernist guilty pleasures." In creating his paintings and drawings Thomas works exclusively from life and the imagination.
Thomas is a Resident Artist Member of the Salmagundi Club, exhibits regularly at the Gilles Larrain Gallery in SoHo New York City, and is currently exhibited in the public collection of the U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands at The Hague. Thomas has been a drawing instructor at the Long Island Academy of Fine Art and teaches private students in academic drawing and painting.
Thomas obtained his art education outside the mainstream by studying part-time at the Grand Central Academy, an atelier in midtown Manhattan which was founded by Jacob Collins and modeled after 19th-century teaching methods. He has studied with leading Realist painters such as Richard Piloco, Robert Armetta, Travis Schlaht, Edward Minoff, Jon DeMartin, and Brian Schumacher.
Subscribing to the Renaissance model of the artist as polymath, he pursued an eclectic academic background with degrees in Mathematics and International Relations. An avid surfer, Thomas is a resident of East Hampton New York.
Creative Influences
Statement of Purpose
In this era of commoditized images, oil painting provides a medium for authentic individual self-expression that also fulfills core human needs for transcendence and relatedness.
Realistic paintings based on skillful observation of the human figure and the rest of the natural world allow the artist to employ a visual language that is implicit in the human mind, inspiring the viewer by accessing the same collective unconscious syntax that is found in music and mathematics.
The idea of Beauty is a most challenging, complex and rewarding area of artistic exploration. Encompassing philosophy, psychology, religion and history, classical notions of Beauty can imbue artwork with intrinsic value for its viewers independent of the marketing labels, critical discourse or political agenda associated with it. I hope to re-connect with traditional painting practices from the 17th and 19th centuries and apply this rich heritage to contemporary subject matter.
Many important ideas about the human condition contain paradoxes which do not lend themselves to abstract reduction without a loss in the richness of their meanings. These paradoxes, which permeate the spiritual and literary heritage of all cultures, naturally lend themselves to emblematic visual expression. In my opinion, it is the task of the artist to give form to these ideas by combining inspiration with thoughtful craftsmanship. This skillful pursuit of Beauty, inspired by careful observation, is central to humanity's collective drive to define a meaningful existence.
Art Criticism Blog
Thomas Shelford's blog, "The Artful Rant", offers an artist's perspective on trends in contemporary realist painting in New York City, featuring exhibition reviews, favorite emerging artists and armchair art criticism:
http://theartfulranter.blogspot.com
A Definition of Art
"The inspired exercise of a craft for the purpose of intentionally conveying to others, through external indications, the sentiments which the artist has experienced."
|
