Tom Anholt
Tom Anholt
November 4 – December 16, 2023Los Angeles
Biography
Tom Anholt (b. 1987, Bath, UK) explores the human condition through paintings composed of florid allegory, rich narratives, and otherworldly landscapes that mine the imagination as well as the visual lexicons of Hellenic antiquity, Persian miniature painting, European Romanticism, and beyond. Anholt’s paintings often take as their subject matter serene nature scenes that tap keenly into sentiments of tranquility and contentment. Enacting what venerated philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer espoused as art’s function, Anholt’s vignettes provide a moment of pleasant escapism and a respite from the pressures associated with existence.
Anholt’s brushwork straddles the line between the semiotic implications of representation and the ineffable emotive qualities of abstraction. Referencing the artist’s curated repository of tropes and imaginary settings, each work on linen places a strong emphasis on composition and the hand. This signature style breaks each scene down to its most essential spatial components of form, light, and color to further highlight the buoyancy of feeling that seems to radiate out from these dazzling scenes.
Tom Anholt lives and works in Berlin, Germany. He holds a BA from the Chelsea College of Art and Design, London, UK, and studied at Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design, Stockholm, Sweden. Anholt’s work was the subject of the solo presentation Time Machine at Kunstverein Ulm, Germany (2018) and featured in group presentations at the Marciano Art Foundation, Los Angeles, CA (2023); Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany (2020); and KH7 Artspace, Arhaus, Denmark (2018). His work is represented in numerous public collections including Collection DBC, Copenhagen, Denmark; Collection Majudia, Montreal, Canada; Marciano Art Foundation, Los Angeles, CA; and M Woods, Beijing, China.