Tom Estes
Male
Born in: - (United States of America) on 25 April 1967.
Currently living: London (United Kingdom).
Painting; Photography; Video; Installation; Digital Graphics; Mix Media; Other;Long before the term 'Fake News' became part of the public lexicon, Tom Estes was exploring 'The Digital' as a shaping condition and a structuring paradox. For him, ‘fantasy’ and ‘illusion’ are not a contradiction of reality, but instead an integral part of our everyday lives. Tom has always leaned toward making work participatory or immersive in some way, and while his practice is characterized by the mediums of photography, performance and installation, his individual works can also be seen as part of a wider interdisciplinary project that incorporates innovative web conversations and social networks. He tries to do this with wit and economy and by paraphrasing early sci-fi and horror films and their associated ideological fictions in order to examine how dataflow from the virtual realm impacts on the significance and symbolism of real-world human senses. But in doing so, he has begun to generate unexpected questions about how the digital might be inscribing itself on the surface of reality.
Tom Estes grew up on a small farm in the U.S.A and moved to Paris before settling in London as his base of operations. He studied History of Art at the American University in Paris, Social Economic History at Oxford University, and Fine Art at Central St, Martins London. He also holds a professional qualification in Video Production from City & Guilds.
Tom's work has been hung, played and performed in a few of the world's right places and a couple of deliciously wrong ones. He regularly worked with collectives such as The Red Velvet Curtain Cult and Art Evict and Art Pendeo in the United Kingdom as well as The Biennial Project from Boston in the U.S.A. His work has been presented internationally at exhibitions such as the opening night of The London Art Fair, AXIS International in Chicago, at Tate Modern’s exhibition No Soul Vanabbemuseum). His work has also been included in a new book of Performance Art - Emergency INDEX – published by Ugly Duckling Press, and The Champagne launch has been called one of "8 things to do in the New York Art World" by the Observer's Gallerist NY.