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Fred Tomaselli

Fred Tomaselli has often courted controversy with his use of unconventional materials including consciousness-altering plants and pills. "I want people to get lost in the work," says the artist. "In that way the work is pre-Modernist. I throw all of my obsessions and loves into the work, and I try not to be too embarrassed about any of it." The results look like part patterned-textile, part mosaic. They depict subjects from the natural world, such as birds and flowers, with lush, jewel-colored tones. His recent hybrid works are all about recycling images from the outside world, usually downloaded off of the Internet, to create heavily patterned, hallucinatory universes of his own making.

In 2009, Prestel published the comprehensive book Fred Tomaselli, which accompanied a survey show of his work from the past 25 years.


Click here to read more about Fred Tomaselli's dazzling, dizzying art.

Born 1956
Hometown Santa Monica, CA
Lives and Works Brooklyn, NY
Education
BA, California State University, Fullerton, CA, 1982
Permanent Collection

Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Musee national d'art moderne, Paris, France
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
LAMOCA, Los Angeles, CA
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY

Representing Galleries

James Cohan Gallery, New York, NY
White Cube, London, England
Carlier Gebauer, Berlin, Germany

Interview with the Artist

1. Who's your favorite artist?
Goya.
2. What's your idea of happiness?
Being in the middle of a big project.
3. What's your idea of misery?
Beginning or ending a big project.
4. What's your hidden talent?
I'm a good parker and I can fix stuff.
5. What's your guilty pleasure?
I was raised Catholic. All my pleasures are guilty.
6. The world would be a better place if…
there were less people, cars and Republicans.

Read Description

SHOWS

Mrs.

New York
Apr 14 2018 - Jun 02 2018

Dutch Masters

James Fuentes Gallery

New York
Jan 11 2017 - Jan 29 2017

Group Exhibition 2017

James Cohan

New York
Feb 05 2016 - Mar 19 2016

Early Work or How I Became a Painter
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Articles

Art for Democracy: Bid or Buy Now
Art for Democracy: Bid or Buy Now

Artworks and new Limited Editions - artists including Ed Ruscha, Jeff Koons, Barbara Kruger, Jenny Holzer, and Cindy Sherman create or donate work to help democracy prevail in November.

Russell Simmons on Expanding Art's Possibilities
Russell Simmons on Expanding Art's Possibilities

We spoke to the Def Jam co-founder about the philosophy behind his art foundation, and his approach to collecting work by contemporary artists.

Art for the Office
Art for the Office

The team behind Viyet shares design tips for selecting the perfect works for the office.

Fred Tomaselli on His New York Times Series
Fred Tomaselli on His New York Times Series

We spoke with the California-bred, Brooklyn-based artist best known for embedding prescription pills in his canvases about political art, the places we lose ourselves, and why he is a newsprint man.

An Insider's Guide to L.A.'s Art Scene
An Insider's Guide to L.A.'s Art Scene

Find out where to catch the must-see shows in the sprawling metropolis, from the newest Downtown nonprofit to the gleaming spaces in Culver City and the fading charm of Chinatown.

The Dazzling, Dizzying Art of Fred Tomaselli
The Dazzling, Dizzying Art of Fred Tomaselli

A primer on the artist's hallucinatory, intricately realized work, from his noted newspaper silkscreens to his famed album covers.

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