I'VE GOT A BEARSKIN SHOPPING BAG
Tom Day, 2025
I wouldn’t know where to say intervention stops and deconstruction begins.
- Rudolf Stingel, quoted in Reiner Zettl, “The Trickster.” Rudolf Stingel, edited by Francesco Bonami, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago / Yale University Press, 2007, p. 35.
the possibility of painting without intention
the act, the end result
presence, fleeting
one thing leads to another
mistakes, accident...what is the essence of accident?
demarcation in a shift, a change from one thing to another
abrupt and jarring
too subtle and smooth
one thing leads to another
passage of time, sunrise to shift work
shoe drawing, to still life, to abstract tape
masking, etc. etc.
the dissolve of intention
a range of timescales
the week’s gameplan
color choice, brushstroke
one thing leads to another
Twombly, Saville, Twombly, 57 min.
effect of color
sunrise, to still life
it takes the sun
orange underpainting reflects across the gap of the tempietto
look down
find a painting at my feet
debris composed without intention
a shift to throwing paint
welt paper wilts in compelling form
working, adding dots
active participant with accident
paint bag, splay it open
woah, didn’t see that coming
I've got a bearskin shopping bag
Tom Day, 2025
I wouldn’t know where to say intervention stops and deconstruction begins.
- Rudolf Stingel, quoted in Reiner Zettl, “The Trickster.” Rudolf Stingel, edited by Francesco Bonami, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago / Yale University Press, 2007, p. 35.
the possibility of painting without intention
the act, the end result
presence, fleeting
one thing leads to another
mistakes, accident...what is the essence of accident?
demarcation in a shift, a change from one thing to another
abrupt and jarring
too subtle and smooth
one thing leads to another
passage of time, sunrise to shift work
shoe drawing, to still life, to abstract tape
masking, etc. etc.
the dissolve of intention
a range of timescales
the week’s gameplan
color choice, brushstroke
one thing leads to another
Twombly, Saville, Twombly, 57 min.
effect of color
sunrise, to still life
it takes the sun
orange underpainting reflects across the gap of the tempietto
look down
find a painting at my feet
debris composed without intention
a shift to throwing paint
welt paper wilts in compelling form
working, adding dots
active participant with accident
paint bag, splay it open
woah, didn’t see that coming
I've got a bearskin shopping bag
Photo Courtesy of Dan Schwalm
About the Artist:
Tom Day is an artist and designer from New Haven Connecticut interested in architecture, construction, and landscape. His painting, drawing, and sculpture practice explores questions concerning building tools and technology, the built environment, and the means and methods of spatial organization. He holds a Master of Architecture II degree with Distinction from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design and a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Syracuse University School of Architecture. From 2012-2022 he was a project designer at Morphosis in Los Angeles where he worked on projects across a wide range of scales and typologies from objects and furniture to museums, towers, and urban masterplans.
Tom Day is an artist and designer from New Haven Connecticut interested in architecture, construction, and landscape. His painting, drawing, and sculpture practice explores questions concerning building tools and technology, the built environment, and the means and methods of spatial organization. He holds a Master of Architecture II degree with Distinction from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design and a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Syracuse University School of Architecture. From 2012-2022 he was a project designer at Morphosis in Los Angeles where he worked on projects across a wide range of scales and typologies from objects and furniture to museums, towers, and urban masterplans.