Tom Rogers
Taos, NM
Changing Nothing to One
Oil on panel
12” x 12”
2021
$750
About
I was born in New Jersey and lived, studied and worked in the New York City area for most of my life until 1989 when I relocated to Taos which has been my home ever since. I received foundational art training at Pratt Institute; subsequently I received a BA degree in English literature, and a BFA in studio painting, from Fairleigh Dickinson University and Florida International University, respectively. I have been represented in shows and galleries in the New York metro area, Delaware, Atlanta, Miami, Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Taos. My work is in private collections in all of those locations. Locally, I have been in several shows at the Millicent Rogers Museum and the Harwood Museum. In 2018, I was the featured artist for June in the Harwood’s Studio 238. I have been a member of the Taos art community since 1987 when my representation in Bryan’s Gallery preceded my move to Taos by a couple of years.
Artist Statement
My abstract images combine vivid colors, atmospheric backgrounds, schematic shapes, and geometric patterns. I’m inspired by the vibrating visual effects when certain colors touch one another and the dazzle when graphic patterns are mixed in interwoven layers. In some pieces I use the visual energy to obscure the distinction between foreground and background. In other work I use color vibration to make small opaque forms appear to float over a ground painted with subtle gradations. My successful outcomes are radiant and upbeat and as much as I enjoy the finished paintings I also enjoy the mechanics of making them. Conception here is part science and part intuition; my motivation comes from a sense of artistic adventure tempered by logic. I easily get absorbed in developing an idea from a thumbnail sketch into a full sized scheme, sometimes using drafting tools and precise measurements. I’m excited by the alchemy of mixing the oil pigments, experimenting until I find the perfect vibrational relations. Enlivening my linear design with the chosen colors is work that is meditative and uplifting as I watch the glistening paint flow from the brush to the surface. Giving something bright to the world is supremely satisfying and a little bit mystical.
Art from Tom Rogers in other TAAC exhibitions
