TOM BOLLES

TOM BOLLES Tom Bolles is a San Francisco native born into a family involved in art, architecture, and archaeology. In spite of where Bolles was born, he believes himself to be an East Coast person who happens to be living on the West Coast. Bolles went to boarding school in Massachusetts, college in Philadelphia, and lived for a couple of years in New York City. He currently resides in San Francisco.

Bolles' house was filled with art, ranging from lesser-known abstract and figurative paintings by students and professors at the San Francisco Art Institute to European and New York abstract paintings his father acquired while traveling. Besides being an architect, Bolles' father owned one of only three contemporary galleries in San Francisco at the time, so art was ever present in his early life. During the mid-sixties, Bolles was attracted to op and psychedelic art. Despite being very different styles, both genres were similar in their use of saturated, brilliant colors.

Bolles characterizes his art as being about the materials, the finishes, and the colors. In order to consider his work successful, it must “attain an indefinable and elusive balance of color, light and texture.” "Formal" is the word most commonly applied to it. His artwork is “sketched out” first with a computer program. Due to the digitization of the image, zeros and ones from the binary code are left behind and become part of the work. In Bolles' work, he sometimes favors a painterly approach, no doubt subconsciously borrowing from artists like Pierre Soulages and Hans Hoffman. Other times Bolles favors hard edges and brilliant colors, reflecting the influences of painters like Julian Stanczak or poster artists like Victor Moscoso. Bolles' work also references back to minimal pieces, reflecting the influence of artists like Ad Reinhardt and Agnes Martin. All of these styles intersect in many of his pieces, maintaining a soft layering of color which fades to the end of the image, and almost machine-like line making and precision.

ON THE WALL: Inside The Artist's Studio
ON THE WALL: Learn More

TOM BOLLES
VIBRANT DEEP BLUE
Sublimation on Aluminum
23.5 X 23.5 in
TOM BOLLES
VIBRANT YELLOW
Sublimation on Aluminum
23.5 X 23.5 in
TOM BOLLES
VIBRANT BRIGHT BLUE II
Sublimation on Aluminum
23.5 X 23.5 in
TOM BOLLES
LUMINOUS 9
Mixed Media on Canvas
60 X 50 in
TOM BOLLES
LUMINOUS 8
Mixed Media on Canvas
60 X 50 in
TOM BOLLES
MIDNIGHT TARGET
Mixed Media on Canvas with LED
66 X 66 in
TOM BOLLES
LUMINOUS LILLY PULITZER PINK
Mixed Media on Canvas
60 X 50 in