Tom Curry became well-known as a magazine illustrator and political cartoonist
based in Austin, Texas. His work has appeared in such publications
as Time, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, Playboy, Mother Jones, The Atlantic,
and Texas Monthly. In 1993, he moved to Alpine and began to focus
more on personal paintings, which often incorporate Southwestern themes.
"The Austin American-Statesman has described my paintings as blending 'the
disarmingly direct with the vaguely disturbing' in comparing my work to
Edward Hopper's," reports Curry. "I guess I would call it 'humorous
despair' because I see humor and despair in everything. It's just
the way our culture is, blending good and bad qualities."
Curry uses hardboard for his acrylic paintings, which gives them an almost
airbrushed quality, and he sometimes uses stippling to give his paintings
a more textured look. "I like brighter colors and try to keep my
work on the lighter side of depressing," says Curry. "I like the
hard surfaces. I sand and gesso it quite a bit. I just like
the feel of it."
A native of Coleman, Texas, Curry received an art degree at the University
of North Texas in Denton, outside of Dallas. Curry still does illustrations,
having worked on six children's books since 2000.
"I still take on illustration assignments, but I prefer working on personal
paintings," says Curry. "With illustrations, you work on a smaller
scale and always under deadlines. But with my personal painting,
I can spend more time planning and sketching and working on a larger scale.
I hope I've found that happy medium between what I want to express and
what people would like in their homes."
Below
are some samples of Tom's paintings.
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