Woodpecker (Primary Title)
Fred Tomaselli, American, born 1956 (Artist)
I throw all my obsessions and loves into the work, and I try not to be too embarrassed about any of it. I love nature, I love gardening, I love watching birds, and all of that gets into the work. --Fred Tomaselli
Tomaselli is known for his intricately layered images that range in subject matter from utopian visions of nature to apocalyptic events. Woodpecker belongs to a series of magnificent birds that derive from Tomaselli’s deep interest in nature and his love of ornamentation. The artist revels in an almost psychedelic overload of imagery and keeps drawers full of clippings—all neatly archived and categorized for use in his paintings. In Woodpecker, collaged images of beaks form the bird’s own bill and images of flowers make up its body. Over these collaged elements, and extending throughout the painting’s surface, elaborate patterns recall medieval manuscript illumination as well as Tibetan thangka paintings.
Label copy 2012, John Ravenal
Domestic, Wild, Divine: Artists Look at Animals, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, November 21, 2012 - September 4, 2013
Aspen Art Museum, Colorado, August 1 - October 11, 2009
White Cube, London, March 27, - May 16, 2009
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