"B. THOM"

Our minds are inundated with visual content more so than ever before. A sea of pixels shaping forms selling you things, whispering to you, making you feel left out, all with lack of passion. As humans, we visualize cultures, we build trends, and strive to create new meaning by pulling from the attractive items that fill your pupils and make your serotonin levels spike, make your palms sweat, or make you run in the opposite direction.

Horror movies, punk rock, action thrillers, zines, grunge all borrowed from other moments and built movements more powerful that anyone would have expected by adding in that piece of themselves into it all.

Enter B. Thom Stevenson. Born in New England and rooted in Brooklyn, NY Stevenson's paintings and school of thought pull referential imagery of mixtures of retired VHS cover art from films ranging from horror, thriller, drama and cult classics. Mixing written words, figurative and abstract shapes, using enamel paint creating new aesthetics and moments with his signature brush strokes.

The paintings and publications Stevenson creates, build a new universe for his work to live in. A world of it's own, pulling from imagery of the past and present.

Taking pieces of film titles, using the custom typography, and recreating it blends with unique characters Stevenson paints while referencing Picasso's abstract faces, he weaves in historical art reference with B-Film aesthetics.

The publications are xerox based with clippings, punk posters and treated by reproduction techniques. These will juxtapoz the large painting to help build a visual of scale and medium while having media with fine art, represented as fine art, but accessible to all.

Take from the past, borrow from today, steal the future. Pulling from all of what is around us, we build a new world for ourselves with a visual language that hits you like a passionate punch in the gut, or a soft kiss. Sourcing from elsewhere, and making your own world with it is inherently human and liberating. Copy publications for the masses, make masterpieces to accompany this. That is what B. Thom Stevenson and Ballast Projects are joining forces to do.