Tom DeGroot

Tom DeGroot’s paintings prove that humble, utilitarian materials such as wire mesh or corrugated cardboard can transcend themselves to create a bounty of luxurious, meditative patterns and possibilities.

Tom Degroot present “An Edge in the Ocean” a new series of acrylic paintings on Sintra, a plastic based industrial construction material. The works are formed spontaneously by pulling the wet acrylic paint across the smooth plastic surface of the Sintra – the resulting composition has an immediacy and openness about it; it is both direct and strong. DeGroot, a long-time Zen Buddhist, draws a connection between this his newly developed process and that of Sho Do, the art of Zen Calligraphy. In both cases, the painter or the calligrapher, and the brush, ink and paper are engaged in one inseparable activity, and what is left is a record of that harmonious and unconditioned moment.

Mounted on wood panels and then covered in layers of paint, DeGroot’s mesh and cardboard form a structure onto which tinted resin is poured. The paintings take shape as the resin levels and falls into the grooves of the cardboard, creating a luminous sense of depth and richness. Wide, silky smooth surface areas, punctuated periodically by the rippling peaks of the board or the recessed pools of the mesh, create hauntingly beautiful rhythms that move throughout the work.