Tom Jean Webb is a multidisciplinary artist living and working in Austin, Texas. Webb attended Kingston University in London and graduated with First Degree Honors in 2007. Webb has exhibited solo shows in various galleries internationally, including Ivester Contemporary in Austin, Texas; Circle Culture in Hamburg, Germany; and The Old Bank Vault in London, England, and has participated in group exhibitions in galleries such as Preacher Gallery in Austin, Texas, and C Waters Gallery in Creede, Colorado. He will be in residency in Glogauair, Germany, in 2023 and has upcoming solo exhibitions at Neighborhood Store in Dallas, Texas, and Above Snakes Gallery in Creede, Colorado.

Born in London, Tom Jean Webb lived next door to his grandfather, with whom he was very close and who imparted his interests in all things Americana. While still living in the UK, Webb’s painting practice developed into a fantastical representation of the American Southwest. Since moving to Texas, Webb’s work has evolved into a meditative study of human relationships to their natural surroundings.
Through his painting and sculpture practice, Webb looks to the land for lessons on the human condition. Webb’s compositional choices induce a psychedelic energizing of the land, demonstrating that nature operates on its own frequency. Webb also depicts the beauty of human’s union with the natural world by showing built structures harmonizing in color and texture with the surrounding landscape.
Webb is interested in the real and implied space of an artwork. By creating immersive compositions, Webb places viewers into his formulated landscape as a prompt to reflect on their relationship to the landscape just outside their front door. As humans, we are inextricably linked to the land and the natural world, and it holds a mirror back at us, and inversely, it is the original source of inspiration.
Instagram : TOMJEANWEBB
website: TOMJEANWEBB.COM

* This Interview is published in Issue 4

1. Hi Tom, tell us about your background. How and when did you first start to paint?

I would always draw as a kid, it gave me an opportunity to focus, to fantasize and communicate with myself and others. I didn’t start turning those ideas into paintings until much later, in my early twenties when I attended a foundation art course at College. There I was able to try out many different mediums that I hadn’t previously had the opportunity. Painting is the one that has stuck consistently since. My work sometimes manifests itself in other forms but I think painting the ‘idea’ always helps me process it.

2. How do you begin to work? What is your process like?

My process whether its painting or sculpture always starts on an A4 sheet of paper, sketching out ideas and compositions, putting a mark down to record what Im thinking or feeling, I need to start that tangible journey in a simple or approachable way, the same way I always did as a kid. From there the sketches get pinned to my studio wall, which I call the ’mind map’, a collection of all recent drawings or older ones that have stayed with me, ones that haven’t fully formed yet. That way Im able to see clearly any themes or ideas that are prominent, that are ready for the next stage or may even work merging. From there it will go on to be a painting or sculpture etc, but I never consider that the end, as every piece is a stepping stone to the next. So the process is ever going, ever looping and ever growing. An artworks objective for me is to lead me to the next one.

I like having a reasonably well drawn out idea before I start, I feel it gives me grounding or the framework to play in, however I like there to be a lot of unknown for the process of actualizing the finished art piece, a space in there for me to play as the artist and discover something unexpected. I find this balance between design and discovery creates the right room for me to make my best work. However these things are all a journey and Im excited to see how they change over time.

You mention that you look to the land for lessons on the human condition. How do your compositional choices in painting and sculpture induce a psychedelic energizing of the land, and what do you hope to convey through this approach? How does nature's own frequency inspire your creative process?

I think the landscape or natural world offers an opportunity to place ourselves onto it, to understand a landscape as a manifestation of our inner self, we can see nature as a mirror of ourself. I love the space a landscape painting offers, the untold stories or journeys we wish to take can be placed onto an artwork, that’s what I want my work to offer the viewer. Creating the work for me is a journey in itself, whether Im traveling to places to document or for inspiration or in my studio traveling through the stages of creation. These are all physical, emotional or conceptual journeys that I take and I want to offer that to the viewer, a place full of nature and space that they can walk in or through.

Also I think being an artist can involve a lot of looking inward, as an antidote to that looking at the natural world allows me to look out of myself, to let ones ego go and appreciate something with a sense of wonder. In many ways Im trying to evolve my relationship with nature, my knowledge and connection to it, the artwork I make is my way of processing that. In understanding that, I want to ask the viewer to understand it too, so when I make an artwork I think about communication, how can I tell you how I feel but also give you the room to have your own journey, to allow that flow of communication between all these elements. I try to create spaces and symbols that are tools for a narrative, ones in nature I relate to and can use in my own artworks story.

Please tell us more about colors and textures you are using in your paintings?

Making work for me is about learning, a number of years ago I stripped my work back to something very simple, I wanted to try and learn about each element in my process. I started with line, how does a line work, how do I like to use a line, how can a line tell of something other than a line. Then it was color, finding my own relationship to color or a color palette and how does this effect the aesthetic or atmosphere of a painting. Currently Im really interested in texture, reintroducing mark making, the gesture of the artist as a record of creation. I know that Im inspired by my hikes or trips in nature but I don’t want to just replicate what I see, I want to have a strong process of creation not replication. How I interpret what I see or feel comes out in the creative decisions I make, of which color and texture are very important, it’s where I get to be the artist. All these decisions can be very instinctive or feel organic in the moment but I really try to analyze them after, to work out what is or isn’t successful. I want to find the spot between the artist I was as a child and the artist I am today. Sometimes I will simply feel attached to a color and want to work out why and how I relate to that color. At the moment Im really interested in the golden tones of a new dawn, how using these tones affects the emotional narrative of my work but also understanding why I am drawn to that palette currently.

Describe a real-life situation that inspired you.

The most important one I would say is growing up with my grandad. He has been a major influence on my journey, a journey that has centered around being an artist. He was the male role model in my life, I was fortunate enough to grow up with him next door and so we spent a lot of time together. I was born and raised in the outskirts of London but my grandads house was like a museum to all things American. We sat and watched Western films together and drove in the American cars he restored. His house and being with him offered such fantastical world for me and has influenced the decisions I have made, decisions that have brought me to living in Texas, making work inspired by that journey and the places I exist.

How has living in Texas influenced your perspective on the human-nature connection?

I think being surrounded by so much physical space has allowed me the emotional space to grow and explore who I am as a person and as an artist. The Texas or South West landscape has offered the room and silence to explore and think, to feel grounded and connect with the outside world. I feel like I have completed a part of my journey that was desired for so long and now I get to stand and look at the natural world around me. The work has more and more become about being present. It's a lesson Im trying to evolve, a lesson I have learnt here in Texas but one I can take with me where ever I go. I think coming from England, being a very wet climate, I needed somewhere to be, to dry out, to feel more sun and dust. I have that now and feel ready to let more water back into my life, I think that’s being reflected in the work Im making.

Tom Jean Webb

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