:: about me ::
The online portfolio of artist and graphic designer, Tom Mulliner RMS (Royal Miniature Society)
Tom is a Council Member of the Royal Miniatures Society (RMS) and exhibits his miniature artwork annually in London, UK.
ARTIST STATEMENT:
My paintings are about staging an alternate reality, the illusion of verisimilitude on the painted surface, filtered so that it expresses my unique vision. Though my paintings may appear photoreal, my goal is not to reproduce or document faithfully what I see, but to create the illusion of depth, a sense of presence, and a reality not found in photographs. I try to use objects as a vehicle to express myself, arranged to convey a story. The objects I choose, serve as vessels of memory and symbols for those who have made indelible marks upon my life. I choose colours and composition intuitively with the intent of infusing my paintings with mood and mystery. Throughout, I try to remain open to new ideas as the painting unfolds and adapt, adjust and tweak composition, lighting, and even the positions of the painting's elements relative to each other.
Published article in Poets and Artists magazine #85 by Lorena Kloosterboer
"Tom Mulliner is a British artist, art instructor, and graphic designer of Thai ancestry, based in Essex, UK, whose hyperrealist still lifes, portraits, miniature paintings and occasional landscapes are based on the traditional painting methods employed by 16th-century Dutch artists.
Using a variety of wet and dry mediums, Mulliner's aim is to faithfully recreate the illusion of reality and capture the essence of his subject matter while seeking to push the boundaries of realism for a distinctly contemporary look. He usually starts his paintings with a graphite sketch followed by an airbrushed underpainting using acrylics, which allow him to erase, scrape, and scratch the surface to achieve interesting textures. He then finishes the painting by layering transparent glazes in oils.
Mulliner's delightful still life, entitled Arctic Roll, draws me because of its delicate beauty, skillfully rendered textures, and understated monochromatic sepia colour scheme which evokes a sense of nostalgic longing for the past. The top-down lighting gives this mundane ice-cream dessert-popular in the UK in the 1980s-the status of a celebrity stage actor, presenting it as an object worthy of admiration. Inspired by the Pop Art's focus on common household items, Mulliner invites the viewer to look at this food with fresh eyes and discover its beauty."
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