Fruit Thugs

Migrant Fruit Thugs, 2006
Fred Tomaselli
Photocollage, leaves, acrylic, gouache and resin on wood panel
78 X 96 inches
Image: James Cohan Gallery

Fred Tomaselli mixed media works incorporate a range of materials. In Migrant Fruit Thugs, the leaves are from fig trees in his Brooklyn garden. Sitting stolidly amongst these leaves and the starry night in the background are two boldly colored birds of no real species, but an imagined species. The combination of these elements creates a unique somewhat fantasy-like feeling.

Any dimension is obviously lost in through digitization but the dimension you would see in person may also be a different experience than expected, knowing materials. Tomaselli seals his collages in resin and layers of varnish, flattening the immediate surface.

"Where Art Imitates Gardening (and Vice Versa)"
Dorothy Spears, NY Times 10/8/06