Tom Besson, born in 1951, is a product of Nineteen-Fifties America, and a Czech immigrant subculture.

Tom Besson has painted since childhood; he studied at The University of Houston Art College for 3 years before “dropping-out” and moving to the counter-culture Austin of 1974. He has been a member of alternative artists’ communities in Austin, Texas including “F’Art’Sake”, Austin’s Vanishing Point Arts and Alternate Current Gallery. In addition to his work with the artists’ community of Elgin, Texas he is a long standing member of the Austin Visual Arts Association.

In the mid-90’s Besson retraced his immigrant ancestors’ journey back to Moravia where he now maintains a summer studio. Across ten years Besson has learned the Czech language and moved from observer to participant in the culture. He has been the moderator at numerous music festivals in Moravia as well as become the only American artist invited to join the Unie vytvarnych umelcu Olomoucka (Union of Creative Artists of Olomouc), an artists’ collective in Olomouc, Czech Republic. His current work has been displayed in museum exhibitions sponsored by the Czech Ministry of Culture and in contemporary art galleries in Texas and the Czech Republic.

Since 2000 Besson has been the curator of numerous exhibitions. In addition to a neosymbolist exhibition with Slovakian artist Stanislav Grezdo in 2002 he has mounted two group shows at Gallery Lombardi in Austin Texas(April,2003 and 2004) and a Neosymbolists from America Exhibition in Olomouc, Czech Republic(March,2005). He presently works with AVAA and two international neosymbolist artists’ collectives as curator of a traveling international exhibition of Neosymbolism featuring artists from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Denmark and America. Opening in Austin, Texas on September 26th, 2006, the show travels to Copenhagen, Denmark for a November 24th showing and continues to Olomouc, Czech Republic for a January 10th, 2007 opening. More information about this show can be found at www.neosymbolism.us.

Besson has work in the permanent collection of the University of Houston and in private collections in Ireland, Wales, Czech Republic, Canada, and the United States.

More of Besson’s work can be seen at www.snapPtom.com or www.tombesson.com.

Artist Statement

Symbolism, Regionalism and the work of Gustav Klimt, Thomas Hart Benton, Charles Burchfield, Huntertwasser and Walt Disney Studios have influenced my painting style. My work expresses what it means for me to live in this rapid-fire nihilistic culture. If it means nothing more, at least I paused long enough to acknowledge my feelings to myself and to the world. Using symbols and bright colors I display my ideas and emotions. Themes of life, love, death and politics fill my work. It is important that artists hold a mirror to their worlds, both personal and universal. Painting the energy that drives life and how our spirits are connected to nature is my objective. In the end I am satisfied to show how my hand danced across canvas and time. Symbolism or politics no longer matter and all that is left is the song of life.