Blog Archives

Tom A Finalist in the 2024 Darling Portrait Prize

I am incredibly excited to be able to announce that I am one of the 25 Finalists in the 2024 Darling Portrait Prize. The Darling Portrait Prize is a biennial national prize for Australian portrait painting honouring the legacy of Mr L Gordon Darling AC CMG (1921-2015).

The Finalist Exhibition will be shown at the National Portrait Gallery from the 22nd of June to the 22 September 2024. Bookings for tickets will open soon but you can keep updated by checking in with the Prize’s website.

Image credit: Tripadvisor

The winner of the $75,000 cash prize will be announced on the 21st of June 2024. I would love that if you are able to visit the exhibition you could tag me in any pictures of the show or my work so that I can see. The gallery is open from 10am – 5pm daily and is located on King Edward Terrace, Canberra.

From the Darling’s website: “The judges are seeking the most compelling recent Australian portrait painting, whether they honour or push the genre, offer unexpected insights into well-known faces, or centre everyday people to explore the breadth of Australian identity.”

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‘Mirror Mirror’ A Finalist In The 2023 Bluethumb Art Prize

I’m so excited to announce that my portrait of Marcus Petaccia, ‘Mirror Mirror’, is a Finalist in the 2023 Bluethumb Art Prize. Created in 2022, this is the second prize that this work has been a Finalist in since first being publicly exhibited in March of this year.

I would be incredibly grateful if you could please vote for my work to win The People’s Choice Award and share my entry (you can do so by clicking here). You can also watch an instructional video on how to vote here. Voting is now open and will conclude Thursday the 9th of November.

Photography by Sean Alves

By voting and sharing, you will go in the draw to win a $2,000 Bluethumb voucher to spend on art and a Robert Gordon pottery hand-painted by the People’s Choice Award winning artist (which hopefully will be me!) The overall Bluethumb Art Prize winner will be announced on Thursday 26th of October.

Of course this work is also available to own. Please click here to purchase ‘Mirror Mirror’ in order to immediately hang in your boudoir. Thank you to Bluethumb for including my work in this year’s prize and thank you for voting for my work to win the People’s Choice Award.

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The 2023 Halloween Polaroid Project Is Here!

Happy Halloween! My annual spooky Polaroid Project has *just* launched. You can pick up a one of a kind, signed, Polaroid right here.

This year there are 18 Polaroids available for sale as well as a brand new short film. The first 2 Polaroid sales will come with signed, original props used in the ’23 Polaroid film. The first 10 Polaroid sales come with an A5, numbered, signed, glossy, hand-embellished print of a still from the first project.

Please note this series will only be available for sale during the month of October 2023. At midnight on Halloween (31/10/2023) any unsold Polaroids will be destroyed.

Plus, if you are subscribed to my Patreon you can check out a whole bunch of behind the scenes treats, exclusive footage and deleted scenes from the film. You can also download and view the film and all the promo videos in high definition for your own viewing pleasure throughout spooky season.

Happy Halloween! 🪓

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100 BUCKS X RUNNIN Group Show Opens Tonight!

My work ‘Forty Two’ is part of Adelaide’s 100 BUCKS X RUNNIN Exhibition which opens tonight from 7pm – 10pm at:

Erb’n’flo Coffee & Breakfast Bar
153 Sturt Street, Adelaide, SA

All works will be for sale at $100.00 per work. Artists received a 30 x 30cm wooden template board (pictured above) to uniquely customise with their own style and technique.

Be there tonight to snap up some very excellent, affordable art. You can also check out past entries of this group exhibition at @100bucksandrunnin on Instagram.

‘Forty Two’ 2021 Mixed media on MDF Board, As part of 100BUCKSXRUNNING
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A Sense Of Wonder Group Exhibition

Sharing the same title as its theme, A Sense of Wonder (2019) is an exhibition emphasising the wonders and curiosities that exist around and within us. The visual manifestations presented below have the ability to move us beyond the every day in thought-provoking ways.​

The ideas captured in this exhibition range from viewing an ordinary urban backyard with a renewed sense of awe; contemplating the vastness of space; observing nature on a grand scale or in miniature detail; transforming natures objects into playful expressions; whimsical interpretations of special events in our lives; impressions of an augmented reality; the creation of fantastical creatures; illuminating the effects of make-believe and art-making on children or simply portraying the ocean’s gifts that are washed on to land.   –
Contemporary Art Awards

The Contemporary Arts Awards present
‘A Sense Of Wonder’ 
When: 
2 June – 30th July
Where: 
Available to view here.

‘Shrooms’ (detail) – A collaboration with El Throwup, 2015, Mixed media on watercolour paper.

Exhibiting artists: Karen Benjamin, Tom Christophersen, Jeannie Dolan, Michael Dyson,Julie Hollis, Latesha Houston, GWA (Wade Goring), Silvia A Sellitto, Susannah Paterson and Zorica Purlija. 

‘Shrooms’ framed archival print available here.

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‘Purge.EXE’ a Finalist in the 2019 Contemporary Art Awards

I am so honoured that my portrait of Michael Simms, ‘Purge.EXE’ has been selected as a finalist in the 2019 Contemporary Art Awards, based in Brisbane, Australia. An online exhibition of the finalists will run from 11th Jan. – 11th June which you can check out here: https://www.contemporaryartawards.com/

Overall, the online 2019 Finalist Exhibition showcases diverse mediums and subject matters providing a snapshot of contemporary art from emerging artists. 

2019 Contemporary Art Awards Media Release

You can view ‘Purge.EXE’ in Tom’s Portfolio here.

‘Purge.EXE’ 2018 42 x 69.5cm Mixed media on watercolour pencil
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Beautiful Bizarre Interview with Freddy Grant

“Portraiture and performance artist Tom Christophersen knows the two disciplines go hand in hand. His portraits are a performance and he takes this truth to another level by more often than not working with performance artists as subjects. Christophersen grew up in Adelaide and is now based in Sydney, Australia. He is a theatre maker, performer, visual artist, facilitator, designer and illustrator, who likes “Twin Peaks, The Pixies and dark streaks” and is inspired by everything from succulent gardens to the Jonestown Massacre.

His works are a mixture of the macabre and the joyful that catch the more bizarre sides of his subjects. Christophersen’s cheeky and dark sense of humour, along with his politics, is evident in his compositions. Layered with symbols and meaning, he takes the great tradition of portrait as person, not simply a face and body, into the modern age using technology and millennial iconography in surprising and challenging ways.” – Freddy Grant

Check out the full interview over at Beautiful Bizarre by clicking here. 

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INTERFACING – NOW SHOWING TIL OCT. 6TH

‘INTERFACING’ with Michael Simms is now open at Stanley Street Gallery til the 6th of October.

Gallery Hours:

Wednesday – Friday 11am – 6pm
Saturday 11 – 5pm
or by appointment
Phone +61 (02) 9368 1142

Preview the works on the Stanley Street website here.

Read about the exhibition on the Beautiful Bizarre website here.

Download an exhibition catalogue here.

Photography by Michael Simms

Photography by Michael Simms

 

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“håmlet” @ Rapid Reads

Image Source: Old 505

Following the success of 2017’s season, Rapid Reads is back at the Old 505. The festival will showcase the newest work from Australia’s most contemporary emerging playwrights, who will be paired with and mentored by some of our best established writers.

This year, Rapid Reads includes a series of panels, discussions and networking nights for a two-week joyride of new work including…

Photography by Philip Erbacher

what’s going on? it’s “håmlet” a new australian play. a half baked reading for free at Old 505 – Rapid Reads – 830 pm. @apocalypsetheatrecompany @_tomopoly 📷 @fleshskinhairblood #loveshakespeare

Saturday 14 April
8.30PM – ANTOINETTE BARBOUTTIS & TOM CHRISTOPHERSEN – HAMLET – A NEW AUSTRALIAN PLAY

Tickets available: HERE.

Text Source: Old 505.

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5 Guys Chillin’ @ The New for Sydney Fringe Festival

5 GUYS CHILLIN’

BY PETER DARNEY

Based on interviews with guys found on hook-up apps, this graphic, gripping, funny and frank play exposes the drug-fuelled, hedonistic, highly secret world of the gay chemsex chill-out scene. Following the successful staged reading at New Theatre during Mardi Gras 2017, we’re excited to be mounting a full production of this controversial play.

“As confronting as theatre gets” British Theatre Australian premiere

Tue 12 Sep, 6pm I Wed 13 Sep, 8pm I Thu 14 Sep, 6pm I Fri 15 Sep, 8pm Full $25 I Concession $20

CREATIVE TEAM
Director Patrick Howard

CAST
Tom Christophersen, Stevie Haimes, John Michael Burdon, Will Reilly, Tim de Sousa

BUY TICKETS NOW

 

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