Artworks that transform space
Exploring the collections of Tommy Zen is to draw on the origins of humanity
It is a recognition of the quest for an insatiable curiosity about the different cultures that make up
the creative fabric of our planet.
The history of ceramics is a multicultural fresco that is his.
The forms of Tommy Zen resemble excavation objects uncovered by some obstinate
archaeologist.
His influences come from multiple sources which, harmonized, generate
works of strange and fascinating power of evocation.
Glazed amphorae in which the Phoenician sailors kept the oil, red pottery from the people of El
Ran, huge jars with provisions of the Cretan civilization, long tapered vases of Nineveh, cinerary urns as they are found in Tibetan -Burmese tombs.
Some glow like the heart of a half-dormant volcano, others metalize their pansus flanks in the manner of a barbaric armor or bring forth improbable milky ways. Still others have this warm patina of
antique furniture that one imagines in the darkness of a room with the scent of sandalwood, the acute
brilliance of these so aptly named
prussian blues, these yellows that vibrate above the Neapolitan alleys on sunny days. Escape objects that lead away from everyday life.
Hieratic and mysterious, the large vases of Tommy Zen disturb our subconscious. They remind
us of those times immemorial when the magical domination of natural forces and the universe
permeated all artistic manifestation. Objects that transcend their domestic vocation to access cosmogony, source of life as containers for water and provisions, eternal rest in the secret
of funeral urns. Jar of libations to soothe evil spirits, bowl of food offering to the soul of the
dead, ritual vases of shamans and diviners.
The artist mixes and reinvents both ancestral and contemporary forms from all cultures.
They vibrate and resonate universal string deeply embedded in us.
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