Thomas W. Dowdeswell

I paint to navigate the depths of grief left by my father’s suicide, a loss that shattered my world when I was 21. As I studied American history and politics, I found myself grappling not only with personal pain but also with the tragedies that shape our society—war, terrorism, migration. Art became my refuge, a space where I could confront the chaos within and the turmoil around me. Through each brushstroke, I seek to make sense of the unbearable, to transform anguish into something tangible. My paintings are both a cry for understanding and a search for solace. 

My work pulls back the curtain on current, controversial issues with surreal political satire, challenging the viewer to confront, digest and empathize with multiple perspectives, both literally and theoretically.

​I blend surrealist, figurative and geomtric styles to creates dreamscape atmospheres where I deliberately juxtapose imagery of desperation and opulence, victimization and exploitation, in an attempt to explore the inequality of society through flurries of abstraction and symbolism. When expressed through structural shapes, the form and energy is reminiscent of Futurist Umberto Boccioni’s Elasticity (1912). But sometimes that flurry takes a complete abstract form, reminding the viewer of Kandinsky’s Compositions (1913), and thus the longing for liberation.  

I have exhibited across the United States and Europe and currently work out of my gallery in Bratislava, Slovakia.