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Artist Profile: Tom Czarnopys
December 06, 2024
Before pursuing art, Grand Rapids, Michigan native Tom Czarnopys attended Grand Rapids Community College. Working with a variety of mediums, Czarnopys has used live models, sculptures, photographs, and scientific drawings to explore the relationship between humans and nature. He mentions hunting during his childhood as inspiration for his work, stating that he “learned first-hand the cycles of the seasons, the mystery and stillness of the forest and the potency of life as only close observation of nature can reveal.” His early works were anthropomorphic fiberglass casts of his body covered in tree bark.
Throughout his career, Czarnopys continued to explore manipulating different natural materials, like bark, plants, and taxidermy of animals. He also created a series of works of plants immersed in blocks of glycerin soap. Amber in color, the soap suspends the natural materials, revealing in more detail the areas closer to the surface, and concealing the rest, their forms seemingly dissolving into the glycerin. For Czarnopys, the amber color of the glycerin references fossils, yolk sacs, embryonic development, and amniotic fluid.
Explore more artwork by Tom Czarnopys.
Tom Czarnopys, Birthing Figure, bronze, 1988, 2010.42.1.
Tom Czarnopys, Untitled (Pan), Poplar bark, 1985, 2022.47.3.
Tom Czarnopys, Untitled, glycerin and mixed media, n.d., 2019.7.1.