It was recently suggested that I look at the ceramic and mixed media works of Tom Bartel. I was immediately drawn to his figurative pieces. The forms he creates are somewhat grotesque with highly textured skin and brutish, exaggerated features. However, these figures express a docile nature with their impotent and incomplete bodies. The color palette Bartel uses is also very soft. The disfigured come together with cheerful patterns. Themes like mortality and fertility are addressed honestly for all of the beauty and horror. Life's scars and blemishes are not vainly hidden, but displayed in Bartel's treatment of his character's "skin." Bartel's dualistic depictions of humanity are a new favorite to my visual library.
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