MM
JT
The Misery of Men
Time passes because you don’t know the art--
the dark makes all hands numb,
empty as speech, mute as a mustard seed.
© Karen Morris, Poet / Collaborating Author • 2017
The Misery of Men :: What he means
Tomlinson has an ear to his own heart and mind. Dominique Nahas, art critic/writer 2015
Tomlinson's history as a male in the 20th and 21st centuries is filled with vivid memories of all the men in his life: father, brother, uncle, grandfather, teachers and mentors, male friends, drill sergeants, bosses. They are the male protagonists and antagonists he has encountered in a variety of private and public situations.
Tomlinson has an ear for what men say to men. He has an eye for their facial expressions when saying what they do and how they say it. Their voices, their expressions provide the rhythm to the music of his drawing. He believes that he is orchestrating an experience for himself, mapping his inner journey, leaving traces. Those traces have an element of darkness in them, with titles such as Modes of Escape, Dark Storms, and The Misery of Men, in which graphite and brush record his inner conversation about the misery of men and unravel his own deep experience as a man in the world.