DE
When you enter Joel Tomlin’s studio in east London you enter his very
own world. It’s an almost ancient and a bit mystical world filled with small
sculptures and figurines, sketches, drawings and paintings all over the
place but most of all it’s a world of soft, beautiful and soothing colours.
Colours that make you feel at home and not want to leave again. But
don’t be fooled by the softness of the colors and the the delicateness of
the little objects – a lot of them were cast in bronze, a refractory material
that takes force and skill to handle (Joel casts his own bronzes), some of
them are carved from wood or stone. It’s the lightness and softness that
Joel is able to wrest from those archaic materials that makes Joel such
an extraordinary artist to me and that also defines part of his character.
Size gets irrelevant in Joel’s work, he can make a huge canvas look delicate
and fragile and a tiny little sculpture fill a room. In the crazy, hectic and
sometimes brutal (art-)world of London he found his own place, he does
what comes from within, stays true to himself and his work.
Joel wears a fisherman’s shirt from a fleamarket, a vintage belt, pants by
Old Town Clothing Company, boots by Kurt Geiger and his kilim slippers
are from Pickett in London.
@ Julia Richter
