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URGENT CARE: Stuck in that Awkward Stage between Birth and Death
Robert Sill |
INTRODUCTION Working with so-called “impoverished” materials reminds me that everything is informed by impermanence. Nothing is solid or fixed, not even stone. – Thomas Skomski
From his earliest wood carvings, woodcuts, and drawings of the 1970s to the cages, light boxes, water bottles, light manipulations, and photographic images of the 80s and 90s up through his most recent works, Skomski’s fertile investigations into the human condition create art rich with ambiguities, analogies, and metaphors that are open to multiple interpretations. For the 1993 dedication of Impermanent Column, he wrote, “The center is not fixed, it cannot be confined, it con only be understood in terms of process, a state of motion without finality. The column in motion is a reminder of change, with or without acceptance of it.” And things can change subtly over time or abruptly—in an instant. In 2001, change hit Skomski’s life hard when he was suddenly uprooted by a catastrophic stroke. He was living in Evanston and teaching at DePaul University at the time. The day started out like so many others. Full of energy, Tom bypassed the elevator and bounded up the stairs to the art studio. He recalled entering the room when suddenly, he crumpled to the floor in a heap. Within minutes paramedics arrived and administered the injection used to curtail further brain trauma, but he continued to hemorrhage. They rushed him to the hospital where they were finally able to stabilize him. Miraculously he survived, but the stroke caused considerable physical damage, virtually paralyzing his left side and leading to a long period of rehabilitation and recuperation. In 2003, he and his wife Diane purchased a 23-acre wooded retreat in north central Illinois where he convalesced and continued to work. The stroke and the move had a profound impact on their lives and Tom’s creative practice over the past 19 years. Tom always held a deep appreciation for heightened perception or heightened states of being, borne of his studies of Eastern philosophy, Buddhism, yoga, and meditation. He was lay ordained as a Buddhist in 2001. Diane is a Zen Master Roshi and runs a retreat center on the grounds of their home. We can see Tom progress from those first small-scale, post-stroke works such as Can’t Clamp (2001), where he chose the fragile medium of aluminum foil to form a C-clamp. Painted black, the clamp appears rusted shut, rendered unusable, much like his right hand. In Tom’s Wait (2001), the play on words is obvious as our minds are tricked into thinking the dumbbell is a heavy weight, but being made of foil, it is virtually weightless. At the same time, the title refers to Torn waiting to get better. The newer works, such as Take a Hard Look: Jack Johnson (2012) and Jerusalem (2018), have become more ambitious in scale and more overtly socially conscious than his early works. While early works were more minimalist and sparse, these new works are more figural, gestural, organic, and maximalist. Skomski’s work remains, as always, rich in allegory and metaphor. It can be evocative or provocative, it can be tongue in cheek or deeply serious. It can be celebratory and lighthearted, or it can be visceral and critique contemporary social issues. There is something urgent in his meditations, something seen or unseen that needs to be said in this art that taken as a whole becomes cogent reminders that we are all stuck in that awkward space between birth and death. Thomas Skomski’s art honors life’s struggles; it reflects our times and examines the processes of change and the inevitable outcome of decay and aging. It is art that mourns the losses and celebrates the precious and precarious nature of being alive. Thomas Skomski’s work is held in private and public collections worldwide. He has exhibited throughout the United States and in Europe and Japan. He holds a BFA from Northern Illinois University and an MFA from The School of the Art Institute, Chicago. He and Diane live near Indian Creek with their white German Shepard dogs Blanco and Juno. Tom was born in Argo, Illinois, on October 6, 1948. Robert Sill |
This exhibition presents a 50-year survey celebrating the career of Thomas Skomski, one of Illinois’ finest sculptors. Springfield-area residents will know his work from Impermanent Column, the 42-ton sculpture made of limestone-colored concrete on the grounds of the University of Illinois Springfield campus that looks like a giant broken column.