It was a pleasure having Damon Tommolino in the Solarium. The solo show closed today, September 28, 2009. 10 paintings were hung, 3 were sold.Â
“Street Cafeâ€Â
30â€X40â€
Oil and acrylic on canvas. SOLD
“Street Cafe†will be going to James and Maureen Knowles. A perfect addition to the main room of their apartment. Little Jimbo, just back from Thailand was along for the ride.Â
On Thursday August 20, 2009 Damon Tommolino opened his most recent art exhibition in the Solarium at the Roger Smith Hotel. His body of work reflects the concentration of time and space of sequential motion.
Artist Statement:
The point of my paintings is to provoke as much thought as possible. I try hard not to overly point a viewer in any one specific direction. I don’t believe this is my job as an artist. I would much rather present several ideas or options or paths for any viewer to take throughout any given piece. Therefore, I purposely leave a certain amount of ambiguity in the work. At its best, viewers will be able to make connections between the characters I paint and their own lives.
I strive to bring awareness to the way in which we live. My paintings reflect our society, our nation, and our most intimate relationships. Is there room for improvement or growth in our lives?
Love the Art. Molly Barnes and Damon talk about artist etiquette , and the nature of collectors in an art market.
Panman Arts & Molly Barnes teamed up once again to create a series of clips designed for the art world. This is a straight forward practical guid for any emerging or current artist that is interested in succeeding within todays tough art market.
Panmna Arts aims at reproducing some of the successes of the Paris Salon fusing the atmosphere and attitude of the original with 21st century technology and social media.
The first show will feature Damon Tommolino and will take place on the 16th floor of the Roger Smith Hotel in the newly built “Soularium.†Although it will not be the works of many students like in the days of the original Salon, Damon will line the Soularium walls with paintings from various periods of his career and experimentation. This will create a journey through the evolution of an artist.
Panman Arts in conjunction with Panman Productions will use social networks to generate proper buzz about the event. Hosting Damon’s portfolio on Panman Gallery allows for collectors, dealers, students, critics, artists and other curators to survey the work before hand with the option to buy any pieces pre-show.
During the opening and the closing, Panman Productions will broadcast a live feed of the party allowing professionals abroad a chance to interact through social media platforms such as Twitter, Skype, Ustream, and others. Clients and fans from all over the globe will have the opportunity to be present at this happening, being able to speak to the artist and other guests.
This is a brand new interactive initiative that will connect the various art bases of the world allowing the Panman Arts Salon Live to exist and collaborate on a global scale.
Tommolino said that he would let me do the studio visit under two circumstances: one, that we drink a bottle of fine brandy together, two, we play chess. Being an obligatory creature I had no objections to Damons clauses. Then he smiled. That’s what Damon Tommolino is like: a morsel of truth encased in an even finer casing of truth, which is always humor, the heart of the Universe. There was an even more exacting truth all of this that I was aware of. If I stood to produce any coherent work myself I would need to seek out the visionary eye of somebody who I trusted. That’s where Abi Prince came in. Abi is a Panman Production colleague, but more importantly a visionary filmmaker and editor that I knew could handle the surreal nature of this encounter. Regardless we were not about to take any chances so Damon made sure to keep filling Abi’s glass with fine African Shiraz. What was recorded that evening was the delicate, unadulterated, result(s) of the incident of three artists coming together to make sense of the world around them through each others eyes.
I remember one night I had my camera with me at one of Pedro’s parties. Damon was playing on a stand up piano and singing. He looked like he was a world onto himself. Like a moth to light I whipped out my camera and began filming him. I don’t think he knew at that time. Later he asked if I had the footage of that night. Sure I did. Damon laughed. The synesthisthetic events of an artist existence are perfectly matched with the color of music. Are the colors coordinated with the notes? There is very much a musical composition that Damon is painting. Every time, every canvas there is rhythm, there is tonality. Some are solo performances and in others there is an entire orchestra playing. When you look you can see the sound, you can hear the color. That is a relevant accomplishment.
Ill just say it once and then we can all forget about this. Behind every man, this time there being two, there is a great woman. That’s it, now to the main program. Damon, like the line he employs so masterfully in his paintings and sculptures has a tenderness to him. He paints it how he wants it to be. There is a softness to a very harsh exacting structure. There is a cradle for the universe that is not asleep, as maybe you would want it to be. Damon will be the first to admit the aesthetic polarity of his own workings, be they inner and outer. For one thing, he is not a person who is at all afraid, but at the same time he is one of the most hospitable and inviting blokes: who has allowed me the pleasure of dreaming on their couch.
