Philadelphia-born, New Jersey-based artist Tom Nussbaum is in the spotlight at Rowan University Art Gallery. His solo show, Heads and Tales, showcases a progression in his practice that moves between the representational and the abstract. The exhibit runs March 31 – May 10, 2014. A reception and gallery talk will be held on Wednesday, April 16 from 5 – 7 pm.
Heads and Tales is an exhibition of selected studio work from the last 16 years, featuring a variety of mediums in which Tom Nussbaum locates common attributes that embody a narrative framework.
“My work is the result of a process of self-discovery, a personal mining of images that have psychological meaning,” Nussbaum states. “Some of the work expresses interior feelings, and much of it focuses on relationships; between family members and friends, between the individual and society, and between the conscious and subconscious self.”
The work developed out of Tom Nussbaum’s life-long interest in building things that express his view of the world. He uses form and color and connections that can be found in the patterns and construction of fabrics and textiles from around the world, whether the micro and macro forms found in nature or man-made patterns such as interconnecting circuits and the world-wide web.
“The free-standing forms reflect my interest in architecture and the structural frameworks of buildings and towers, mixed with references to the human figure,” he adds. “In some way these are all figures and vessel forms or containers, and as such also connect to my earlier work and the history of ceramics and basket making.”
Tom Nussbaum is known for a variety of work including drawings, paper cuts, prints, sculpture, children’s books, animations, functional design objects, and site-specific commissions. His sculpture and works on paper have been exhibited in galleries and museums across the United States. Since 1987 he has completed more than 30 site-specific commissions located in a variety of public settings including public plazas, train stations, schools, hospitals, and environmental centers. In 1985 he began The Acme Robot Company, a cottage industry producing night-lights and light fixtures of his design. In 1988 he founded Atomic Iron Works, designing and producing iron hat and coat racks and other useful items. In 1992 Children’s Universe/ Rizzoli published his activity book, “My World is Not Flat.”
A frequent visiting artist and lecturer at colleges and universities, Tom Nussbaum has served on numerous peer review panels and juries. He has been awarded two New Jersey State Individual Artist Fellowships and has been a three-time MacDowell Colony Fellow. He currently works from his studios in Montclair, NJ, and Burlington Flats, NY. More information on the artist is available at tomnussbaum.com.
Admission to the gallery, lecture and reception is free and open to the public. Regular gallery hours are Monday – Friday, 10 am to 5 pm (with extended hours on Wednesdays to 7 pm); and Saturday, 12 to 5 pm. For more information, call 856-256-4521 or visit www.rowan.edu/artgallery.
Rowan University Art Gallery is located on the lower level of Westby Hall on the university campus, Route 322 in Glassboro, NJ.
This program is made possible in part with funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.
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Brenna K. Murphy, Detail from “Home Imagined (Dollhouse),” 4×6 feet, 1,154 strands of the artist’s hair stitched into paper. Click the image for a larger view.
