Tom Colcord

“The Fluidity of Perception, or being both the cause and effect” at Avenue 12 Gallery

This exhibition explores what I call the “The Fluidity of Perception.”

Fluidity of Perception refers to a “Landscape of the Mind”: a psychological landscape that reflects the subjectivity of our perceptions. In order to create these paintings, I collage disparate landscape and interior elements to create a dreamlike space that is logical yet elusive. The result is a painting that features many landscape elements, but is ultimately a psychological space that feels as though it is in the midst of being edited. The landscape is the most appropriate mode of painting to depict the mind because it suggests vastness, fullness, and emptiness simultaneously. Ultimately the question I am exploring is: can I render how beliefs, memories, and ideas evolve? How can I capture, pictorially, the way my mind is putting together my reality?

In addition to the Fluidity of Perception, I spend ample time interpreting the landscape En Plein Air. Plein Air refers to painting the landscape directly on location, without the mediation of photographs or references. It is fleeting, and often done with urgency to accommodate changing light and weather. Plein Air is both a work of passion and historical fascination for me, and, I believe, an in-depth investigation into the study of perception. After years of taking this approach, it has rewarded me with a greater understanding of how I see.

Exploring these two bodies of work together has allowed me the space to ponder perception from both an interior and exterior place. It is my understanding that “real” life is utilized in the mind as the raw basis that constitutes reality, yet what is filtered by the mind influences what is seen. In my case, and in the context of this exhibition, the Plein Air observations are the clay used to sculpt the way I experience reality, and ultimately provide a pictorial basis for how to structure the imagined/psychological landscape. These landscapes of the mind constitute my experience of reality, and influences what I look for the next time I am out in the open-air landscape.

This cause-and-effect scenario is a cycle. Proof that we are not casual or objective observers of the universe, but a part of reality itself.

Tom Colcord is a painter and art educator living in San Francisco California. Originally from Indianapolis Indiana, Tom holds a BFA in Painting from Indiana University Bloomington and an MFA in studio art from the San Francisco Art Institute.

Working across multiple approaches—from large-scale surrealism to plein air painting—Colcord explores psychological landscapes that challenge our understanding of reality and place.

Tom currently works as the Bay Area Representative for Dixon Ticonderoga and Strathmore paper, and teaches at Artworks fine art studio in San Francisco. He was the 2021-22 recipient of the Tournesol Award at the Headlands Center for the Arts. Most days, he can be found painting En Plein Air.

Tom Colcord

Born: 1990 Indianapolis IN

Education: 2017 MFA San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) 2013 BFA Indiana University Bloomington

Selected Exhibitions

2025
“The Fluidity of Perception” Solo Exhibition, Avenue 12 Gallery, San Francisco CA
“Love All” Group Exhibition, Glass Rice Gallery, San Francisco CA “Inaugural Karl Exhibition 2025” Group Show, Karl Art Gallery Levi’s Plaza, San Francisco CA “Botanica” Group Show, Hunt and Gather Gallery, San Francisco CA
“Left Coast Annual” Group Show, Sanchez Art Center, Pacifica CA

2024
“Home” Group Show, The Drawing Room SF, San Francisco CA
“Nature Vs. Machine” Group Show, Gallery-O-Rama, San Francisco CA “Made in California” Group Show, Brea Gallery, Brea CA
“Spring Exhibition” Group Show, Hunt and Gather, San Francisco CA “Artspan50th Anniversary” Group Show, GCS Agency, San Francisco CA “Showstopper Series” Group Show, 2358 Market Gallery, San Francisco CA

2023
“Inside Outside and Everything in Between” Solo Show, Glass Rice Gallery, San Francisco CA “Vantage: A Landscape Group Exhibition” Group Show, Good Mother Gallery, Los Angeles CA “Managers Special” Group Show, Mini Mart, San Francisco CA
“Small Works Exhibition” Group Show, Soft Times Gallery, San Francisco CA “Refuses of the Bay” Group Show, Voss Gallery, San Francisco CA

2022
“The Maximalist” Solo Show, Tournesol Award Exhibition, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito CA “Small Works Exhibition” Group Show, Soft Times Gallery, San Francisco CA

2021
“Botany of Desire”, Group Show, Palate Gallery, San Francisco CA
”Seeing the Forest for the Trees”, Solo Show, Glass Rice Gallery, San Francisco CA

2020
The DeYoung Open, Group Show, The DeYoung Museum, San Francisco CA “Alternative Renderings”, Two Person Show with Tim Irani, Glass Rice Gallery, San Francisco CA “Basel: Bay Area Art Seekers Lounge”, Group Show, Voss Gallery, San Francisco CA

2019
“Monster Mash-Up”, Group Show, Glass Rice Gallery, San Francisco CA
”Wabash International Artist Residency”, Group Show, Honeywell Center, Wabash IN “Reality Under Construction”, Group Show, The Collective Gallery, Denver CO

2018
“Endless Winter”, Group Show, Glass Rice Gallery, San Francisco CA “Diagonal”, Group Show, Shotwell Gallery, San Francisco CA
”Its’s A Sign!”, Group Show, Ian Stallings Design, San Francisco CA “Spectrum”, Solo Show, Glass Rice Gallery, San Francisco CA

2017
“Clyde and Co. Art Awards Exhibition Show” (Group Show) Hang Art Gallery, San Francisco CA “Thesis Exhibition” (Solo Show), The San Francisco Mint, San Francisco CA

Collections
The De Young Museum, “Gentrification of the Dead” Fidelity Investments, “Familiars in Mind”

Honors/Awards/Residencies
Tournesol Award Recipient, Headlands Center for the Arts 2021-2022
Facebook Open Arts, Burlingame CA, 2021
Honorable Mention, “Into the Woods” at Basel Group Show, Voss Gallery SF 2020 Wabash International Artist Residency, Delphi IN 2019 ArtPoint Artist in Residence, San Francisco CA 2019
Peoples Choice Award, Clyde and Co. LLP Community Art Awards, San Francisco CA 2017
Outstanding Graduate Student Award, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA 2017 SFAI Graduate Fellowship Award, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA 2016
Ilkner P Ralston Award, NSAL Competition, John Waldron Arts Center, Bloomington IN 2015 The Art Students League of New York, Residency at Vytlacil, Sparkhill NY USA 2015
Ruth Katzman Scholarship, The Art Students League Residency at Vytlacil, NY 2015 Pygmalions Art Supplies Color Contest Winner, Bloomington, IN 2013

Teaching and Art Related Work Experience
Artworks – Instructor May 2022 – Now
Strathmore Paper and Dixon Ticonderoga – All California Representative, May 2018 – Now
Gamblin Artist Colors – Bay Area Representative, May 2017 – May 2020
Drawn2Art – Instructor, Los Altos, CA 2017 – 2021
City Studio Program – Art Teacher, Boys and Girls Clubs of America, Columbia Park, San Francisco, CA Summer 2018 – 2021
City College of San Francisco City Extension – Art Instructor 2023 – Now