TOM BREAK
Artist and Writer
Current Work
Tom Break's current body of work is based on photographs of saints, holy men and women, and spiritually resonant objects and symbols.
The work is created by cutting layers of black tulle and stitching them together, so that the white ground of the wall or frame is visible through the work. The fabric visually approximates its shadow, giving the works an arresting visual presence, somewhere between a hovering shadow and a disembodied photograph.
See Tom Break's most recent work at In the Wind Projects. View his past exhibitions in the Exhibition Archive.
Teresa (Mother Teresa of Calcutta)
Cut and layered nylon tulle, 14 x 11 inches.
Thérèse (of Lisieux)
Cut and layered nylon tulle, 14 x 11 inches.
Luigi (Father Giussani)
Cut and layered nylon tulle, 14 x 11 inches.
Emil (Kapaun)
Cut and layered nylon tulle, 14 x 11 inches.
Gianna
Cut and layered nylon tulle, 14 x 11 inches.
The Toilers of the Sea
Cut and layered nylon tulle, 12 x 13 inches.
Cross
Cut and layered nylon tulle, 12 x 9 inches.
Dove
Cut and layered nylon tulle, 13 x 13 inches.
Night
Cut and layered nylon tulle, 11.5 x 11.5 inches.
WRITING
Tom Break's writing is principally concerned with reviving an art critical ethos from within the deepest roots of the western tradition with an eye toward finding a way to an art for the future that is good and true.
Art and the Restoration of Value
A four-part essay for Genealogies of Modernity about art and value.
Modern Art and Truth
A three-part essay in Genealogies of Modernity about modernist painting and the desire for a true art.
What Happened When the Lights Went Out
An essay for Dappled Things about electricity, light, and the wake of technological failure.
Susan Rothenberg's Search for the Real
An essay for The New Criterion in memoriam of Susan Rothenberg and her enormous legacy for painting.
Notes on the Vocation of Being a Teacher
An essay for the Circe Institute about an oft-overlooked difficulty borne by the teachers of the world.
The Good Art
Tom's current writing project is a book-length essay tentatively called The Good Art. The following essays are initial attempts to grapple with the ideas in that larger investigation.
An essay sequence appeared in Dappled Things under the author name Brian Prugh, setting up the initial questions the book will tackle:
"Maybe to Perfect a Thing Is to Destroy It: Searching for the End of Art (Part I)"
"A Fast that is Pleasing to the Eyes: Searching for the End of Art (Part II)"
*Winner of the 2020 Jacques Maritain Prize for Criticism
Two essay sequences appeared in Genealogies of Modernity:
Modern Art and Truth:
Art and Value:
Other Essays
"Letter to the Editor" about the border between art & life at Fare Forward
"What Does That Still Small Voice Sound Like?" at Slant Books' Close Reading blog
"Divine Providence" at Lydwine
"Love and Reason" at Slant Books' Close Reading blog
"Poetry as a Finding through a Falling Away" at Genealogies of Modernity
"Notes on the Vocation of Being a Teacher" at Circe Institute
"Susan Rothenberg's Search for the Real" at The New Criterion
VIDEO
Tom Break's video work is centered around living aboard his sailboat Blowin' in the Wind with his family. They've worked together to create a documentary miniseries for YouTube and are currently working on other film projects.
BIO
Tom Break studied philosophy at the University of Chicago and art and art history at the University of Iowa. In 2006, he “reverted” to the Catholicism of his youth and has been engaged ever since in the search after a true understanding of what makes art good in both his visual work and his writing. He has published essays in The New Criterion, Dappled Things, Genealogies of Modernity, Fare Forward, Lydwine and elsewhere and has exhibited work in cities across the US. He is a co-founder of In the Wind Projects and lives with his wife and four children aboard a small sailboat.
CONTACT
CONTACT
tom [at] inthewindprojects [dot] org