"Somewhere Still" by Tom Maakestad

TOM MAAKESTAD SOMEWHERE STILL

October 19 - November 30, 2024

TOM MAAKESTAD

Tom Maakestad works and lives in Marine on St. Croix, Minnesota, where he has maintained a studio for the past 28 years. Raised among a neighborhood of farmers and surrounded by a vibrant artistic and intellectual community in Northfield, Minnesota, Tom has always been drawn to the hills and valleys of this lush, Midwestern region. He is best known for creating large oil pastels and oil paintings with complex, atmospheric skies. These pieces explore the visual intersections between the landscape and human interactions. Tom’s work is collected throughout the United States and overseas. Four of his paintings were purchased by the U.S. State Department for the U.S. Ambassador’s Residence in Oslo, Norway.

ARTIST STATEMENT

When you say "somewhere still", you're implying that a place or a feeling exists, but you're not exactly sure where or when. It's like a lingering sense of something that refuses to fade away. For example, "I feel like I left a part of myself somewhere still, back in my hometown." It's a way of expressing a longing or a connection to something that's hard to pinpoint.

My life started in rural Minnesota, in a neighborhood of farmers, surrounded by a lively art community and in a household of artists. Since then, we have lived around the world ending up in Marine on St Croix for the past 29 years where I’ve maintained various studios.”

While representing things and places I have experienced, they are part of a story, with various chapters, some more current than others. In this way, places and periods are captured and assembled into a living body of work.

During the past few years my work has transitioned from drawing media to oil painting. The original rationale for this shift was to work on larger scale commissions that couldn’t be done with oil pastel on paper and under glass. An added benefit is that larger paintings allow for larger brush techniques and more expressive paint handling.

My work typically starts with abstract underpainting in thin color layers. As the paintings become tighter, thicker and more finished, some of these “unknown” layers will still show through giving the final work a possible tension. Although some pieces may be more straight forward I attempt to use live brush work to show my tracks.

My surroundings form the basis of subject matter in my work. Whether it was while living in Asia, working on a show in the South of France or in the Midwest, my work generally has reflected the places that I am living in and that are impacting me. For millennia, man has sought to communicate through pictures, pictographs, words and concepts. I am just a millisecond in that span of time.