Art

Tom A Finalist in the 2024 Darling Portrait Prize

25/03/2024 | Comments: 0 | Posted by: Tom Christophersen | In: Art

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.”

Read more →

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

05/10/2023 | Comments: 0 | Posted by: Tom Christophersen | In: Art

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.

Read more →

The 2023 Halloween Polaroid Project Is Here!

01/10/2023 | Comments: 0 | Posted by: Tom Christophersen | In: Art, Photography

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! đŸȘ“

Read more →

‘there is no collective noun for rainbows, they are just rainbows’ A Finalist In The 2023 Kennedy Prize

22/08/2023 | Comments: 0 | Posted by: Tom Christophersen | In: Art

I’m so honoured and truly humbled that my work ‘there is no collective noun for rainbows, they are just rainbows’ is a Finalist in this years’ Kennedy Prize. This work is one of the largest I have completed in my career and is one I am most proud of.

The Finalist Exhibition will be held at the Royal South Australian Society of Arts, Level One, corner North Terrace & Kintore Avenue, Adelaide from Saturday, the 2nd of September to Sunday, the 17th. A full list of Finalists can be found below:

The Gallery will be open 10.30am – 3.30pm weekdays, 1.30pm – 3.30pm weekends and is closed on Public Holidays. For further Gallery and sales information please visit the Kennedy Prize website HERE.

A very special thank you to Patrick Howard, Sophie Haylen, Picture Framing Warehouse and of course Kim Leutwyler, my wonderful sitter, for helping me realise this work.

Read more →

‘The Second Cumming’ A Finalist In The 2022 Bluethumb Art Prize

03/10/2022 | Comments: 0 | Posted by: Tom Christophersen | In: Art

I’m hugely proud to announce that ‘The Second Cumming’ is a Finalist in the Bluethumb Art Awards under the Portraiture category amongst some excellent company.

‘The Second Cumming or “You Look Like That Guy (sic) From Queer Eye”’ 2021 44cm x 30cm Mixed media on Archers’ watercolour paper Based on photography by Phil Erbacher

You can click here or on the image below to vote for me to win The People’s Choice award.

You can also purchase this artwork, as well as other original artworks from my Bluethumb store by clicking here.

Read more →

Antipodes 2022 @ Beinart Gallery

19/12/2021 | Comments: 0 | Posted by: Tom Christophersen | In: Art
Work in progress of the Antipodes 2022 portrait.

Antipodes 2022 is the Beinart Gallery’s annual show highlighting artists who live and work in Australia.

Click here to join the preview list for early access to the online catalogue.

Opening reception: Jan 8th, 6 – 9pm.

This exhibition will run from Jan 9th – Jan 23rd and will coincide with Rachel Perrin’s exhibition, Sanctuary. Australia is home to a number of exceptional artists working in a variety of media, and Beinart Gallery is proud to put the spotlight on these artists, showcasing the extraordinary talents of people within our community at large.

Participating artists: Shaun Tan, Ben Howe, Sean Layh, Loretta Lizzio, Lucy Hardie, Lukifer Aurelius, Brad Gunn, Belinda Wiltshire, Josh Juett, Jai Raphael, Mark Seabrook, Jack Rowland, Lisa King, Ben Smith, Robert Duxbury, Annita Maslov, Alex Louisa, Kim Evans, James Bonnici, Anita Mertzlin, Robyn Rich, Ryan Pola, Greg Olijnyk, Kane Kokaris, Dan Power, Jacqueline Michell Butterworth, Alexia Novella, Erik Sherman, Liz Gridley & Tom Christophersen

Read more →

Fabulous & Impossible: The Cult of Leigh Bowery

19/12/2021 | Comments: 0 | Posted by: Tom Christophersen | In: Art, Fashion, Video
Portrait of Leigh, 2021, Mixed media on watercolour paper. Based on photography by Fergus Greer

The Bowery gallery presents ‘Fabulous & Impossible – The Cult of Leigh Bowery’, an exhibition featuring the visual art of Sydney-based queer artist and multidisciplinary pistol-whip Tom Christophersen.

Featuring a collection of new and pre-existing works, Christophersen’s beautifully camp and subtly strange portraiture and video work celebrates the impact of queer visionaries, especially Bowery, on his contemporary arts practice.

Parallels of persona and character, performance art and the ultimate subversion of popular culture through a queer lens echo through this glamorous and twisted body of mixed media works on paper, incorporating both drawing and painting.

‘Fabulous & Impossible – The Cult of Leigh Bowery’ is for lovers of meticulously made things which glory in the uncomfortable and underground, the shock of the spectacle, and the delicious way the queer community creates art on their own terms from their own lived experiences.

Opens January 28th 2022.

Click here to register.

Read more →

‘Thanatophobia’ opens November 28th @ The Stockroom Gallery

26/10/2019 | Comments: 0 | Posted by: Tom Christophersen | In: Art

My debut solo exhibition, ‘Thanatophobia’ opens Thursday November 28th at the The Stockroom Gallery, Melbourne from 6pm – 8pm and runs til December 8th.

‘Mitcham Shops Are Burning Down’, 2019 (Detail)

For sales enquiries and catalogue access please contact The Stockroom Gallery at: info@thestockroom.com.au

Click here to access a digital exhibition flyer.

Click here to RSVP to the ‘Thanatophobia’ Facebook Event.

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE WORKS AND READ THE CATALOGUE ESSAY

‘Thanatophobia’, 2019, Film Still

To experience Thanatophobia is to be overwhelmed by a morbid dread of dying. Sydney-based Queer portraiture and performance artist Tom Christophersen presents his debut solo exhibition, and first exhibition in Melbourne, exploring the artist’s long-running anxieties pertaining to death.

Read more →

‘Purge.EXE’ a Finalist in the 2019 Hornsby Art Prize

30/09/2019 | Comments: 0 | Posted by: Tom Christophersen | In: Art

I am stoked that my work ‘Purge.EXE’ has been selected as a Finalist in the 2019 Hornsby Art Prize. My work will be displayed as part of the Hornsby Art Prize Finalists’ Exhibition at the Wallarobba Arts and Cultural Centre. It is open to the public from 16 – 27 October.

Winners will be announced at the Hornsby Art Prize Finalists’ Exhibition Award Night. It will be an evening of fabulous sights, tastes and sounds, held on Saturday 19 October 2019, from 6pm, at Wallarobba Arts and Cultural Centre, 25 Edgeworth David Ave, Hornsby.

You can view ‘Purge.EXE’ in my Portfolio here.

‘Purge.EXE’ 2018 42 x 69.5cm Mixed media on watercolour pencil
Read more →

A Sense Of Wonder Group Exhibition

02/07/2019 | Comments: 0 | Posted by: Tom Christophersen | In: Art

​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.

Read more →