From Waste to Wall

About this exhibition

James Owen Thomas (J.O.T.) was born in Eastbourne. Art has always played an important part in his life and from the age of five, he took part in courses run by Project Art Works in Hastings.

 

Having moved to Yorkshire and as a student at Bradford School of Art, James became interested in Surrealist Art and so very much enjoyed visiting Farleys House and Gallery.

J.O.T.’s work expresses his passionate concern about the damaging environmental effects of single use products. He recycles things quickly discarded by others, into mediums of beautiful expression.  He describes the disposed scratch cards he uses as colourful symbols of, ‘people’s lost hopes and dreams.’ He say’s however, ‘My art isn’t what it’s made from, but what it has become.’

Recently, J.O.T. has been creating a series of tree collages on a very large scale. He made a series of canvases of the blossoming cherry tree in his garden while in lock down. Furthermore, he has been inspired by Picasso’s depictions of birds and has used discarded scratch cards from the Spanish Basque region to create an image entitled ‘Árbol de la Vida’