Neil Ernest Tomkins
BIOGRAPHY
Contemporary landscape painter Neil Ernest Tompkins has developed a painting style recognisable for its blending and fragmenting of imagery and perspective. He is renowned for his distinctive approach to mark-making and has been featured in numerous exhibitions across the globe, as well as undertaking extensive commissions, murals and residencies in Portugal, India, Peru, Mexico and Tasmania.
Tompkins’ process usually begins en plein air, loosely drafted with a focus on composition and structure. He often refines his imagery by cutting up photographs taken while travelling, arranging them into collages that form a visual reference for his subsequent paintings. He is regularly exhibited and represented by galleries across Australia.
“My aim is to connect with place, to find the spaces of stillness within the motions of the everyday. In this sense, I would consider many of the direct references to landscape to be abstract in concept. It is within this juxtaposition that I relate.
Often breaking down the subject matter into fragments, my work alludes to connection through displacement. I represent a re-emergence of the travel painter, a deep seeking into the unknown expressed with a joyous appreciation.”
I seek to develop these ideas of movement through the understanding of color. Through travel the works are able to be contextualized to place, where the differing light tells stories that are global in scope.”
Neil Tomkins, 2023
Tompkins’ process usually begins en plein air, loosely drafted with a focus on composition and structure. He often refines his imagery by cutting up photographs taken while travelling, arranging them into collages that form a visual reference for his subsequent paintings. He is regularly exhibited and represented by galleries across Australia.
“My aim is to connect with place, to find the spaces of stillness within the motions of the everyday. In this sense, I would consider many of the direct references to landscape to be abstract in concept. It is within this juxtaposition that I relate.
Often breaking down the subject matter into fragments, my work alludes to connection through displacement. I represent a re-emergence of the travel painter, a deep seeking into the unknown expressed with a joyous appreciation.”
I seek to develop these ideas of movement through the understanding of color. Through travel the works are able to be contextualized to place, where the differing light tells stories that are global in scope.”
Neil Tomkins, 2023
Exhibitions
2022 Return of Rivers, Maunsell Wickes Gallery, NSW
2021 Between Dreams, Maunsell Wickes Gallery, NSW
2020 Now Here. Nowhere, Maunsell Wickes Gallery, NSW
2019 This Dream Called Reality, 17 Oxford St, NSW
Synergy Collaborations, Studio Gallery, VIC
2018 This Could be Your Color, Raizvanguarda, PT
The Veil, New Standard Gallery, NSW
2017 Rising Dark, New Standard Gallery, NSW
2016 A Deep Rumble, New Standard Gallery, NSW
2014 East of Eventuality, Ginkgo Gallery, NSW
2013 Neil E Tomkins, Ginkgo Gallery, NSW
2010 SCA grad Show, Sydney Collage of Arts, NSW
Animals and Landscape, Mil’s Gallery, NSW
2008 Birds and Friends, Abattoir Gallery, NSW
2007 New and Old Work, Long Gallery, NSW
2021 Between Dreams, Maunsell Wickes Gallery, NSW
2020 Now Here. Nowhere, Maunsell Wickes Gallery, NSW
2019 This Dream Called Reality, 17 Oxford St, NSW
Synergy Collaborations, Studio Gallery, VIC
2018 This Could be Your Color, Raizvanguarda, PT
The Veil, New Standard Gallery, NSW
2017 Rising Dark, New Standard Gallery, NSW
2016 A Deep Rumble, New Standard Gallery, NSW
2014 East of Eventuality, Ginkgo Gallery, NSW
2013 Neil E Tomkins, Ginkgo Gallery, NSW
2010 SCA grad Show, Sydney Collage of Arts, NSW
Animals and Landscape, Mil’s Gallery, NSW
2008 Birds and Friends, Abattoir Gallery, NSW
2007 New and Old Work, Long Gallery, NSW
Group Exhibitions
2023 country x country, Art Leven, NSW
2021 X-mas show, Maunsell Wickes Gallery, NSW
2020 Showcase, Michael Reid Gallery, NSW
2019 Open Call Salon, Delphain Gallery, UK
2018 Paper and Canvas, New Standard Gallery, NSW
2017 June, New Standard Gallery, NSW
2016 Higher Ground, Kinokuniya, NSW
2015 Art Parked, Artesian 4, NSW
2014 We, The Muse, Ambush gallery, NSW
2012 Outpost Festival, Cockatoo Island, NSW
2011 Communicating with Rocks, Mils Gallery, NSW
2009 Two Young Painters, Cat & Fiddle, NSW
2007 Ten Young Artists, Project Gallery, NSW
2021 X-mas show, Maunsell Wickes Gallery, NSW
2020 Showcase, Michael Reid Gallery, NSW
2019 Open Call Salon, Delphain Gallery, UK
2018 Paper and Canvas, New Standard Gallery, NSW
2017 June, New Standard Gallery, NSW
2016 Higher Ground, Kinokuniya, NSW
2015 Art Parked, Artesian 4, NSW
2014 We, The Muse, Ambush gallery, NSW
2012 Outpost Festival, Cockatoo Island, NSW
2011 Communicating with Rocks, Mils Gallery, NSW
2009 Two Young Painters, Cat & Fiddle, NSW
2007 Ten Young Artists, Project Gallery, NSW
Collections
Neil Tomkins’ work is held in Private collections Nationally in NSW, VIC, QLD & TAS and Internationally in USA, MX, PT, FR,
DE, MN & IN.
DE, MN & IN.
