Tom Deakins

Try as they might, artists cannot escape art history and when we view works by artists that we have not previously encountered we cannot help but measure them against what we already know and love as art. Tom Deakins's exquisite paintings are no exception and other artists both historic and contemporary immediately come to my mind when looking at his works that help contextualise their especial qualities. For me, these include the Pre-Raphaelite landscape painters John Brett and J W Inchbold for their extraordinary and loving rendition of every leaf and clod of earth; Stanley Spencer (sometime cited as the last of the Pre-Raphaelites) for his eclectic choice of subject matter and viewpoints; members of The Camden Town Group for their devotion to the everyday and ordinary realities of life; and of more recent artists, David Inshaw of The Brotherhood of Ruralists for his emotional engagement, panoramas and track-ways and Turner Prize short listee, George Shaw, for his devotion to back alleys, waste lands and decidedly un-picturesque landscapes that though devoid of people are all about their presence and activity.

Like all good artists though, Tom adds his own distinctive and personal approach to such broader observations, both material and cerebral. His works are small in scale, varied in format, intimate and close-up to his subject. He has a universal and deadpan style that can depict anything in front of his eyes including quite complex compositions and architecture that he must at first completely understand. The viewer believes in the truth of what is depicted. Tom demonstrates a mastery of tonal control, and his employment of light and shade adds clever frissons of subdued drama that make his compositions of pastoral realism memorable.

Most artists need and enjoy a physical counterpoint to many hours spent static in front of the easel, and Tom’s preference for cycling and gardening must be a prime source for collecting singular and eye-catching subjects across his beloved stamping grounds of Essex. He is an artist clearly rooted in the continuity of the potent English Romanic landscape tradition and spirit of place from John Constable through Eric Ravilious and Paul Nash to the present.

In 2017, Tom joined The Arborealists, an artists’ collective of some 40 members of diverse practice and approach who share the subject of the tree. Since its formation in 2014 the group has staged some 39 exhibitions with 9 publications to date in the UK and abroad and with many more in the pipeline. Ahead of the fashion curve, this exceptional burst of activity accords with the present compulsion for art devoted to the environmental emergency and species extinction caused by the existential threat of climate change, pollution and waste. Trees, the lungs of the planet, are significant symbols of our endangered flora and fauna and coincidentally, its synergy with the human condition is uncanny.

I first met Tom in the Forest of Dean where we were assembling for our first site specific project on Lady Park Wood, the only scientifically monitored, unmanaged woodland in the UK which sits above the River Wye near Monmouth. His contribution to the exhibition and accompanying publication and to subsequent Arborealists’ projects was and is unique and superb. His drawing is fine and accurate, his brushwork immaculate. Tom is a consummate artist at the height of his powers and at ease with his practice.

Tim Craven
President, The Arborealists
Southern Exhibitions Group
Ex-Curator, Southampton City Art Gallery.