clearfacepic

Guys on Grindr go on and on and on and on about needing a ‘Clear Face Pic’ but usually they have pictures of their torsos as display pictures and have used ‘there’ incorrectly somewhere in the ‘About Me’ section. It reminds me of listening to my mum and her friends talking about other super-gay, mega-flamboyant little boys who were in close proximity to me. Images of Purses falling out of mouthes and terms like ‘petal’ where thrown around. It made me feel kind of sick. It was all dripping with a particular type of condescension which kind of matches that of f*ckbois on Grindr in close proximity to me. This piece is about collective trauma... and then Covid happened and the symbology in the work took on a whole new meaning.

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TOM CHRISTOPHERSEN is a Sydney based, award winning, Queer performer and visual artist whom is as petrified of beautiful things and death as much as he is transfixed by them. It is primarily the car-crashing of these two themes which permeate the hyper-realistic, almost surrealistic, often dark portraits and films he produces.
Tom aims to bring focus back to portraiture that is of a level of detail it demands an intimate level of engagement from the viewer. Working almost exclusively on watercolour paper with watercolour pencil and acrylic, Tom hopes his traditional, technical approach to drawing and painting provide a fresh, immediate offering to portraiture and indeed representation of the self. The figures and themes within Tom’s work are often autobiographical and based on real life experiences.

Tom’s artistic intention has always been to make images that create the necessary disturbances in order to provoke permanent, positive change.
Commission, print and sale enquiries are available via request.

Tom lives and works on the stolen Gadigal lands of the Eora Nation.