Thomas Fenton
My current work is about the human figure and environments they find themselves in. Across all my mediums of sculpture, painting and printmaking, I find myself heavily drawn to the visuals of musculature, huge environments and dreamlike spaces. I consider my work to be almost exclusively self portraiture in a sense, I often find myself trying to depict the feeling of certain actions, emotions and dreams, and this constantly leads me back to my own self. I think there is an enormous potential for empathy with the human form; we all have bodies that we can relate with, to the emptiness of a room or the tightening of your legs, the discomfort of a contorted position. To that end, all of the figures in my work are born of myself, from what I have dreamt or felt or envisioned.
Moving forward with my work, I hope to continue exploring new mediums, and discovering how they influence a work. I currently find myself drawn to those that are facile and fluid; the sincerity of mark making is a large focus of mine at the moment. I feel that I’ve finally grown out of expectations I have for my work, and the accompanying drag it presents. This goes hand in hand with my subject matter, of dreams, raw emotions and elemental concepts I want portrayed as unabashed and true as possible.
Behemoth, clay. 15” x 15” x 15”, 2019
Leviathan, clay. 16” x 14” x 14” 2019
1st Labour, oil on board. 16” x 20” 2020
3rd Labour oil on board. 20” x 16” 2020
Celestial Opposition: Coveting the Unknowable Star colour lithograph. 30” x 46” 2019
Lion Dance, oil on board. 20” x 16” 2020