Mixed Media
The work utilizes multiple layers of paint and collage to create a rhythmic sequence between graphic flatness and representational dimension.
The dialogue between shape and illusion is like a time signature.
Great Spruce Head Island Series from "ART WEEK"
Tolman attended "art week" at Great Spruce Head Island, the summer residence of Fairfield and Eliot Porter. There Tolman experimented with both representational and abstract approaches using paint and paper. His motivation was Fairfield Porter's incredible body of work from that location as well as Hans Hoffman who lived and worked at the same time as Porter. Tolman, who was trained as an academic realist was looking to build a hybrid look that is featured in the work above.
