Tom Gardner

Tom Gardner was born in 1932 in Syracuse, NY. He served in the navy during the Korean Conflict, then graduated from R.I.T. Rochester in 1958, at the height of abstract expressionism. Mr.Gardner found himself deeply influenced by this movement. "I think that creativity is merely the bringing out of yourself what God has already put into you. It's a very personal thing. Therefore, I have never felt an overwhelming urge to use my paintings as a social or political soap-box. I'm more content creating paintings that invite the viewer into the smaller, more intimate world that is found in a single work of art.
Mr. Gardner's career as an artist has taken him from New York, to Florida, California, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama and in 1997 back to California where he and his wife Alexandra currently reside.

PUBLICATIONS~
Palm Springs Desert Sun~July 8, 2001 by Jean McKig
"Tom Gardner's paintings reflect passionate color and present shapes that capture the eye and stimulate the imagination. Gardner is a painter who delights in defeating expectations by warping geometry and inventing unnamed shapes and colors. He pits illusion against pictorial fact and creates spatial shifts with expanses of color that seem to elude the viewers vision just as they begin to grasp them. Surfaces are as significant as color. The textures created by layers of paint and inserting objects into the canvas establish the mood and emotional impact of his paintings. These dynamic works are abstract and at the same time pleasing to the eye. They are often intriguing and amusing to the viewer. Gardner's agility and quick wit as an artist has enabled him to navigate the rough seas of the art world with nothing more than paint and canvas as his sails."

SELECTED GALLERIES~
B.D. Mallon Gallery, Geneva, IL
Editions Limited Gallery, Indianapolis, IN
New Morning Gallery, Asheville, NC
The Windsors Gallery, Dania, FL
Tre Contemporary Gallery of Fine Art, Palm Desert, CA

AWARDS~
1999 Jane Wyman Arthritis Foundation Humanitarian Award