Tom Baxter Tiffin

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My current artworks have resulted from a new sculptural approach working on locally sourced wood, in the main apple or oak, painting, etching, sanding and drawing into the sculptures with a similar approach to the textures and mark making made in my painting work.

I have a background and training in painting which I studied in Brighton and Manchester and I’m finding developing my ideas three dimensionally exciting, challenging and expansive.

My influences and interests in these pieces are the themes and subjects that have always shaped my ideas; outsider or folk art of all countries, British pop art, 1980’s neo-expressionism, art brut, graffiti of all kinds, so called low brow art such as Brazilian popular woodcut prints, Russian prison tattoos, Sailor Jerry tattoo flash, comic strips, Americana circus /fairground signage and imagery from the early to mid 20thC. Cinema and photography also play a part.

Festival imagery from around the world such as Dia De Los Muertos (The Day of the Dead) in Mexico and Jazz Funerals in New Orleans hold a special interest and I have created hanging sculptures ,such as La Huesuda (The Bony One) on show drawing on the images ,themes and slang vernacular of these places and events.

I find wood shaping and carving, a traditional expressive medium lends itself well to creating characters with personality and history that can relate to the viewer intimately and directly on a one to one basis forming a connective bond of communication.

I carve both by hand and with rotary tools and then ,importantly ,sand and use oil paint to create a distressed,vintage,aged patina to bring out  characters that have lived a life, maybe not always an easy one and have ended up here, on show, now.