The “Information Age” series of artworks, of which these sculptures and paintings are a part, focuses on the juxtaposition of  text/image or sometimes image/image that come together to help us understand our world. Specifically, fragments of information are collaged to visually mimic the way our mind puts together simple information (sometimes from divergent sources) into complex understanding and knowledge. This concept could be seen as a postmodern strategy or the visual equivalent of deconstruction, but the artist hopes the viewer will also perceive a light hearted, playful quality to the artwork. The source for this series really comes out of feeling that the “arts” and artists take it all a little too seriously. Visual Art is about the viewer's experience as well as the artist's agenda. The artist here hopes you will enjoy the fun.

The paintings, specifically, reflect thoughts on how humans receive information and acquire knowledge. They address the intuitive and intellectual paths of knowledge by temporarily marrying counterpoints. These paintings are diptychs; the left panel is a very colorful, pattern-oriented composition, created with an intuitive process, without a pre-conceived design or color scheme. The right panel, done in acrylic, contains an image taken from the dictionary that is very literal, a concrete and unmistakable representation. Often, the paired panels are in juxtaposition, meaning that they work for and against each other. Hopefully, they serve each other by conjuring up layers of meaning and experience in the viewer.

As a thinking person, I am interested in the conceptual. As an artist, I live to make objects. I hope that these two endeavors come together in the artwork.

                                                                                    --Tom Dowling, February 2001