Visionary Arts Collective Artist Feature

Full feature can be found here: https://www.visionaryartcollective.com/artist-of-the-week/thomas-flynn

ABOUT

Thomas Flynn II is a multi-disciplinary artist working primarily in acrylic painting focusing on color, pattern, and figure. His work has been included in the SCAD permanent collection, featured on ArtSlant, and included in Peripheral Vision Arts among other publications. He has exhibited in Texas, Georgia, and curated into virtual exhibitions internationally.  Flynn received a B.F.A. in painting and a minor in art history from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) in 2016.  In addition to his own art practice, Thomas serves as the Editor for the artist-run publication, Friend of the Artist. Flynn is currently living and working in Dallas, TX.

ARTIST STATEMENT

 Snakestones Series Statement

Layered in flashing dripping color, these painted shapes alter their environments, existing as floating entities, flat and unmoving but vibrating in living and changing color.  At once foreign and familiar, the entities are made of the shadow of dozens of hands, overlapping and writhing, until the boundaries between each other disappear and only exist as a unified filter between themselves and their environment.  The pattern in the backgrounds are inspired by botanical fabric and wallcovering design, but with vibrant and sometimes unexpected color cords. 

The title of the series, Snakestones, comes from the idea of loosely-tied witchdoctor practices throughout the world where a special object, often times a stone with holes is it, can be used to draw out snake venom from a victim to save their life. This idea, in my mind, takes on a power of its own to control the venom that would otherwise kill you, and that perhaps in this transference of death, there is a rebirth and transformation.

Seated in Power Statement

These portraits of the artist and his wife depict each subject in an environment of their own personal history mixed with a half-remembered dream. Objects throughout act as totems of power that help define who they are in this space. In Corona Weathered, the objects include; a chair that his mother used before he was born adorned with dried flower petals, a dark sky-blanket given to him by his wife, the everblooming psychopis orchid that adorns his studio, and an image of a nonexistent painting hanging above his head. In Jessica by Moonlight, the objects of power are memories of her hometown a thousand miles away including a lantana bush outside her brother’s window filled with orange butterflies, distant dogwood trees blooming in moonlight, and the smell of honeysuckle and fireflies drifting through the forest. Other notable elements are her loyal dog companion, and the ever-worn white Adidas shoes. 

The reclining figure looks outward from this space crafted by who they are in this time and what version of themselves they hold onto in their dreams. 

Website: www.thomasflynnii.com

Instagram: thomasflynnii