Tom Climent is a painter based in Cork City. He is a graduate of the Crawford College of Art and Design where he received a B.A in 1995 and a Masters by Research in 2011.
“Over my time as an artist the work I have produced has been structured into groups or series of paintings. The series I’m currently working on is mostly geometric in nature and has an overall landscape structure to it. My work generally tends to be suggestive, I feel it absorbs places I’ve been to, experiences I’ve had and ideas and images I come across. My process of painting embraces both logic and reason but also chance and accident.
I allow myself to be guided by each individual piece. The work itself exists on the borderline between abstraction and representation but also between real and spirit worlds. It allows for magic to have a role its creation. I want my work to operate as a doorway, to invite the viewer into a new space, to offer an invitation to journey.”
His work process is largely intuitive, the act of painting for him starts a process of discovering unintended connections and relationships, of searching for reason and meaning in the unique situation that emerges. The first marks and compositions create the environment for a process that requires him to constantly re-evaluate what’s important so he can find out what the painting will be.
” Climent is a remarkable colourist. His work is quietly uplifting, even spiritual. It offers a glimpse into another beautiful and majestic dimension. “
Cristin Leach ( The Sunday Times 2018 )
” Sometimes a sense of familiarity has no identifiable origin, while ideas are unbound by pure representation or abstraction. These intangible qualities permeate the materiality of Climent’s painting. His compositions are neither wholly real, nor completely fictional, and most importantly they offer no easy resolutions. His work remains open, generous and evolving, demonstrating great investment of skill and vision “
Carissa Farrell ( Visual Artists Ireland News Sheet 2018 )
” Tom Climent can create spectacularly dramatic paintings. With a characteristic and impressive use of chiaroscuro, areas of darkness are counter-balanced by vibrant colour. For him, the process of painting is both spontaneous and meditative, informed by his knowledge of art history yet not constrained by it. His art speaks directly to the emotions of the viewer, and avoids the predominant preoccupation of postmodern practice, such as irony, repetition, or references to popular culture.
Climent’s intense colour and intuitive composition remain a constant in his work, as he continues his exploration of the richly rewarding interplay between his subconscious emotional world and the physical process of painting.”
Alannah Hopkin ( Representing Art in Ireland/ The Fenton Gallery Book)
” He is an innately good painter and a fantastic colourist,’ declared Cork gallerist Nuala Fenton in 2005. ‘His work is developing all the time, which makes him all the more interesting to follow…There is a real sense of energy and drama about his work, but there is also something very emotional about it and it’s very subtle.’ Fenton was right to note how Climent’s work is still developing as he continues to discover his own potential. Recent paintings tend to possess an architectonic quality. No longer a young artist, he continues to dazzle with his painterly pyrotechnics. “
Robert O’Byrne (Dictionary of Living Irish Artists)
Previous solo shows include ones at The Hunt Museum, The Fenton Gallery, The Temple Bar Gallery & Studios, Garter Lane Arts Centre, Kevin Kavanagh Gallery, Triskel Arts Centre, The Luan Gallery, and Solomon Fine Art. He has an upcoming solo exhibition with Solomon Fine Art in May 2022 in Dublin.
Recently his work was purchased by The Crawford Art Gallery, through funds provided by the Department of Arts & Heritage for The National Collection.
His work has been selected for the annual exhibitions at the RHA and RUA. His work has been selected for the Oriel Davis Open at the Oriel Davis Gallery in Wales and the ARTWORKS and HORTONS PRIZE at VISUAL in Carlow. In Spring 2016 he took part in Irish Wave, a collaborative exhibition in Shanghai and Beijing. In 2019 he was invited to take part in Youyi, the visual art section of the celebration of 40 years of diplomatic relations between Ireland and China. The exhibition travelled from Hangzhou to Shanghai and Beijing.
He has participated in group exhibitions in London with the Herrick Gallery and in New York with the J. Cacciola Gallery and The Painting Center.
He is a recipient of the Heinrich Boll Cottage Residency, Ballinglen Arts Foundation Fellowship 2016, Cork City Council Individual Artists Bursary Award 2014, Working Art Grant 2014, Tony O’Malley Travel Award, Victor Treacy Award and a Department of Foreign Affairs Travel Award.
His work is in the collections of The Central Bank, The National Treasury Management Agency, University College Cork, University College Dublin, University of Limerick, Smurfit Business School, AIB Bank, The National Self-Portrait Collection of Ireland, NCB Stockbrokers, The Cork Opera House, Cork City Council, The Irish Office of Public Works, Cork Institute of Technology, The American Embassy in Dublin, Deloitte, Investec, Ibec, Waterford Healing Trust and private collections in Ireland, UK, Spain, France, USA & Canada.