Thomas Arvid
An Artistic Sommelier
The Texas Hill Country
boasts over 42 wineries with an eclectic mix of palettes and vintages, so it is
no wonder why Atlanta based, Photo-Realism Wine painter Thomas Arvid feels
right at home when visiting the San Antonio / Hill Country area. March 13 – 15, 2015 marked the two year
return of the internationally acclaimed painter to South Texas region with
patrons treated to a VIP private preview dinner at Flemings in the Quarry, a
Second Saturday Art & Wine event solo spotlight exhibition of giclee works
on canvas that included four originals at J.R. Mooney Galleries in Boerne.
Thomas Arvid is a
self-taught artist with a signature angular perspective and
compositional completeness- glass, bottle, and corkscrew. Arvid proceeds
with deliberate off-the-canvas slants that seem to stunt the elements in a
seemingly haphazard tipsy aesthetic-an Arvid
tilted room effect.
Larger than life wine bottles, corks, and other bar
accoutrements can be seen in his distinguished downward still-life
perspectives. Picture-perfect painterly
renditions capture the hyperrealism studio set-ups that spotlight the
reflections on the wine glass, the shimmer of the liquid and metallic silver
finishes. Arvid’s obsessively seamless
ovals, curves, and ellipses portray the physicalities of these still-lives
better than photographs ever could.
Over the past few years Thomas
Arvid has celebrated his first museum exhibition, "Arvid: Reflecting the
Good Life," at the Marietta Cobb Museum of Art in Marietta, Georgia; in
addition to boosting a 5 year waiting list on original commissioned oil
paintings. Prices on oils on canvas can reach $120,000 to $150,000.
Understandably, he works wherever he can, often
doing watercolor sketches and paintings on the plane flights as he travels back
and forth from California and other wine sponsored events throughout the
country.
A newer original titled:
“Polishing the Silver” is a Mixed Media Proof on canvas featuring the Silver Oak label, measuring
31 x 60 inches and valued at $10,000.00. Zach Swangstu, Assistant Sales Manager at Thomas Arvid Fine Art, Inc. explains, “A mixed media proof is a giclee on canvas that Thomas
has put his brush to, customizing the work of art and in doing so creating a
unique masterpiece.
“Polishing the Silver” is a piece that only exists in a few
homes across the country and every one of them are different. It’s considered a
mixed media because Thomas is using a giclee to start and applies oil to the
piece, using different mediums to complete the overall work of art. As opposed to the $125,000 collectors are
paying for Thom’s original oil on canvas masterpieces, a mixed media proof
valued at $10,000 is attractively priced and still holds the long-term value
and collectability as an original, perfect for the Arvid collector who is ready
to take their first step into the world of originals.”
Thomas
Arvid’s artwork is a contemporary throwback and “tip of the hat” to what Arvid
passionately explains as an artistic gesture-inspired by the heyday of hand
tinting experimentations of Black and White photography.
Deliberate
in his composition, gestural mark-making and subtle but striking color
highlights, Arvid knows how to allow the viewer to enter into his lyrically
liquor-esque world of art. The multi-media aspects of the newly acquired
untitled original can be seen in Arvid’s calculated assertion to reveal the
pencil and charcoal layers that would ordinarily be covered in the
“Photo-Realist” venture of the painting process. Arvid comments on this
decision as a way to express and illustrate a “sure-handedness” of technique
and confidence of artistic quality.
Like
an artistic Spartan Warrior, Arvid is in proper form, being sure to formulate
interrupted lines, skewed angles, and layered perspectives to harmonize the
overall gestalt of the work.
Overall
and obsessively obvious in his artistic grandeur, Arvid carefully crafts paintings
with intervallic lines and non-conforming compositional esplanades; avenues and
visual clues that present the viewer with an ability to feel as though they are
joining the artist in his own studio, house or dinner table. He wants the
audience to have a sense they can metaphysically reach into his painting and
pick up the glass and drink the wine or rotate the bottle of wine to read the
label; all without feeling self-conscious about an underlying “do not touch”
taboo in this often misconstrued and misconceived elitist realm of art and
wine.
© Gabriel
Diego Delgado
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