EDUCATION

Yale University, BA  in art, painting 1976.

VJCC Bunka Shodo Kai (文化書道会), Shodan 2022.*

CHRONOLOGY

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1970s. I taught art at the de Young Museum Art School in San Francisco, and worked in the schools with the Museum’s Trip-Out-Truck.

1980s. I lived in Venice, Los Angeles. My studio was a regular feature on the Venice Art Walk.  In addition to showing my paintings, I designed opening sequence sets for the Japanese sketch TV show 夢で逢えたら (“If we could meet in a dream”).

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1990s-2000s.  While continuing to make art and raising a family, I found a way to use my creativity growing a fundraising company.  We worked all over the US and Canada and were responsible for raising over half a billion dollars for symphony orchestras, museums, ballet companies, and environmental organizations. I also designed an innovative conference table for the company.

2015-2024.  I can now spend more time making art again. I love figure drawing and I host a weekly figure drawing workshop at my house/studio.  In 2024 I had a show of figure drawings and paintings at Bar Tomorrow, an art bar in Shinjuku, Tokyo.  My paintings, which were once quite large, 4 ft x 8 ft (123cm x 244cm) are much smaller lately. But they might be thinking about getting bigger...

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INFLUENCES

I have lots of favorite painters–just as one comes out of my mouth another pops up in my mind.  Lorenzetti, Morandi, De Kooning, Guston, Twombly, Matisse, Bonnard, Vuillard…

I love color; that’s why I started painting. And I love shape--I say I like the “shapeness of things.”  I find shapes and play with them in my paintings. They may come from practically anything– chair backs in a café, a palm tree, a cracked bowl. Many have come from my travels: like the triptych shape of an altar piece and its structure, with small scenes (predella panels) telling a story, manga-like, with pictures.

I like to cook, and lately kitchen items are showing up in my work.  Some new shapes are easily recognizable–a knife, a spoon, a teapot. These ones are still developing. The mature shapes are more ambiguous and not obviously one particular thing. They rely for meaning on what it makes you think of.

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*Note: For the past 8 years I’ve been studying Shodo (Japanese Calligraphy) at the Venice Japanese Community Center (VJCC) in Los Angeles.  The VJCC Shodo Kai is affiliated with Bunka Shodo Kai (文化書道会) in Tokyo, and our work is evaluated in Tokyo.

tomscheirart@gmail.com