Thomas
De Froy
Structured by foundations of architecture, my artwork merges laws of order, alignment, repetition & precise composition. Focus is specifically directed at combining opposing elements of pure nature – most often the human form – with varying levels of geometric abstraction.
Having pursued a career in architecture, I’ve found great enjoyment in the design process of what is ultimately an exercise in creating a three-dimensional experience for a particular group of actors & spectators. Despite this fulfillment, I am often left wanting more – imagining a form of architecture unbounded by laws of gravity or material limitations. Exploring this notion has led to visual exercises that bend reality just enough to create familiar, yet impossible environments.
A collision occurs when these simplified (yet unusual) landscapes are then integrated with the complex (yet recognizable) human shape, typically via fragmented portraiture. The result: familiar elements of beauty & humanity are layered within surreal environments, ideally confusing and exciting spectators. Largely stripped of color and heavily focused on form and shape, the final products embrace just enough stability within an otherwise ocean of abstraction.
Using intuition as a guiding force, spontaneous pen-to-paper sketches have organically led to many imagined environments produced to date. The physical act of painting – particularly subject matter that falls just short of reality – has become a personal form of escapism from the otherwise rigorous merging of art and engineering that defines architecture.