Here are 13 minimalist masterworks by Milwaukee’s Tom Stack. This particular showing at Nomadic Studio was the largest collection of his paintings in one place at the time. Of this baker’s dozen, only one was courtesy of the artist himself, and everything else was loaned by their proud owners.
While Stack’s work is spartan, the amount of effort he puts into them is herculean. Tom paints exclusively on Baltic birch boards and then meticulously lays down hundreds and hundreds of single lines of color with a very very small brush. They have so much steady-handed detail in them that you can’t see from further away. I loved pointing this out to tour groups. The day of the install (which was the opening night for the Bird Sanctuary), Tom came by in the early afternoon, and dropped off everything but the giant centerpiece, “Fisheries” and then drove back to Milwaukee to finish the last several hundred lines of paint to then drive back to Chicago again in time for the doors opening.
Fun thing about it is that “Fisheries” was commissioned by our common friend, Chris Fuller as a gift to his wife, Pilar Mercado Fuller. Pilar had no clue that it was hers until Chris directed her attention to the “on loan from” tag we had printed out with her name on it. Pretty cool moment, pretty cool gift, pretty great artist. Enjoy!
Works by Tom Stack
All are acrylic on Baltic birch plywood
Stack Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stackmatic
Bio: Tom Stack is a self-taught artist hailing from Milwaukee. His acrylic on wood paintings begin with tight pencil-drawn lines and end as a keen and clean celebration of his dear and feathered friends.
(Art is listed row-by-row)
- The Butchery, 2010
Courtesy of Andy Kwiatkowski - Flight of the Kakapo, 2009
Courtesy of Diana Sudyka - Red-Winged Blackbird with Shirt, 2008
Courtesy of Dan Didier - The Rower, 2010
Courtesy of Chris Besinger - Lazy Seagull, 2007
Courtesy of Jason Harvey - Wren with Cape, 2010
Courtesy of Dan Didier - Bird Tugs Worm, 2007
Courtesy of Mr. King - Fisheries, 2010
Courtesy of Pilar Mercado Fuller - Seagull Flight for Life, 2007
Courtesy of Bob and Carrie Weston - 60 Years at Large!, 2006
Courtesy of the artist - Shovelers, 2008
Courtesy of Josh Modell - The Snake And The Egg, 2006
Courtesy of Beth King
All photos by Kelsey Moher, except photo with silhouettes by Samantha Dite, and photos of capturemychicago book by Dayton Castleman
