Artist Response Two: Tom Loeser

"21 and Over"

When I first looked at Tom Loeser’s work it attracted me because it was made out of wood. I liked how natural all of the worked looked and felt and how he was able to transform the wood into useful items such as charis and beds. His use of color and patterns is another thing that drew me into his work. Also he is able to make furnature useful but stand out and almost reinvent some of it. For example, in his piece “Chests of Drawers” he has even built in hidden compartments. I really like how he things outside of the box as both, in my mind, an inventor and an artist. 

Chest of Drawers

To learn more about Loeser I read an article titled “Adventures in Color” by Lloyd E. Herman. In the article he gives praise to Loeser for his use of wood and color and also going further with “color and pattern.” Herman says that, “Loeser’s use of color seemed almost to provide his work with a fourth dimension.”

I can agree with that statement because he is able to not only use wood in abstract ways to create useful furniture but he is able to use pattern and brilliant color collages to really make the work “jump” out to the eye. I really liked how he was able to make something very functional and the make it fun and different with the shaping and color scheme. 

I found his piece of work, “Very Large Bed” very appealing. The way that the paint is striped and the wood shaped makes me think of waves in the ocean. I think it would be a very calming bed to sleep in. 

You can see in a lot of Loeser’s work that he tries to make it different while still keeping the furniture functional. While his work may be uniform to the rest of his work, it is a spectacle and is very unique compared to most furniture that you can find.