Tom Bartel

Tom Bartel grew up on the Erie shores of Cleveland, Ohio and is known for his disturbing and humorous fragmented figures that take cues from a “shotgun blast” of influences ranging from antiquity to popular culture. He received his BFA from Kent State University and his MFA from Indiana University-Bloomington.Tom has lectured, conducted workshops and exhibited extensively throughout the United States and internationally. His work is included in numerous public and private collections and he has received Individual Artist Fellowships from the Pennsylvania arts council, the Kentucky Arts Council and the Ohio Arts Council.

“My work takes cues from a “shotgun blast” of influences ranging from antiquity to popular culture and is constructed to refer to both the body and also charged, stylized, surrogates for the body such as dolls, toys, and figurines. The questions that arise from this cultural mishmash fuel my creative practice. I am interested in both the fragmentation and simplification of human form, especially how this decision encourages, if not requires, the viewer to participate with the work"