Tom Merwin

My painting process expresses the layering of symbol and technique using nature as a doorway to existential concerns.

In his unique pieces, Tom pulls and layers cut drawings and oil paint, in which every person can find their own meaning. He paints on stretched canvas with oils and at times uses a collage of rice paper, ink, bees wax and galkyd. He slices and layers at various stages of drying using large spackling knives and other industrial tools like perforated dry wall tape in order to create a texture all his own.

Tom credits his grandfather as his initial artistic motivator, who was a dealer of Hudson River School artists and a restorer. In 1973, Tom was afforded the chance to work at the Metropolitan Museum of Art where he gained inspiration for his own art during his night-time wanderings around the galleries and storerooms. He found great inspiration in abstract expressionism as well as Chinese and Japanese paintings.