TOM-HADAR ELDE

Born 1989

"In my work as an artist, drawing is the most basic tool for concretising thoughts and ideas. As a highly visual person, I use drawing almost as a form of note-taking. A direct expression that can move the mind to other questions and places. I work with sketchy painting in media such as gouache, pastels, ink and coloured pencils.

In technical terms, I shift between different temperaments. From drawing with pigment on my fingers to detailed creation with long, narrow brushes and calligraphy pens. The images often take the form of zoomed-in portraits with a kind of abstracted visor. Clusters of movements and forms which – unlike the pictorial elements – are created without further planning.

My thoughts revolve around three forms of consciousness: internal, external and digital. There is a willingness to understand other people and oneself from a perspective of our time. Would you be who you are today a thousand years ago? Shifts between being a head, a body, or a pair of eyes with a scrolling thumb."

Bachelor’s degree in fine arts 2015, Academy of Fine Art, Oslo National Academy of the Arts

Portrait photo: Evelina Sjöström

Pontus Johansson Den Tänkande Handen teckning utställning

TOM-HADAR ELDE

Tom-Hadar Elde participates in the scholarship competition and exhibition with seven drawings created 2021–2022.

Gouache. Dry pastel, gouache and ink. Coloured pencil and gouache.

1. One Nocco too Much
2. Falling
3. Image
4. Looters
5. Glue
6. Love Tribal
7. Sebastian Martinez


Click on the artworks in the slideshow to see full images, or scroll down. It can take a little while for the images to upload. Enlarge the drawings by choosing zoom or full page via the tool box by each image.

THE SELECTION COMMITTEE'S MOTIVATION:
Tom-Hadar Elde’s images are like notes. His faces are in-depth, close-up studies. Covered by abstracted visors – like fine-meshed networks of veins, sometimes stained with finger paint – they appear highly contemporary, and at the same time rooted in art history. The more precise gouaches have a clearer expression, in which the desire to understand human nature from a contemporary perspective is almost fulfilled.

One Nocco too Much
Dry pastel and gouache on paper, 2022. Original size 76 x 56 cm.
Falling
Dry pastel and gouache on paper, 2022. Original size 41 x 31 cm.
Image
Dry pastel and gouache on paper, 2022. Original size 41 x 31 cm.
Looters
Dry pastel and gouache on paper, 2022. Original size 41 x 31 cm.
Glue
Dry pastel, gouache and ink on paper, 2022. Original size 76 x 56 cm.
Love Tribal
Coloured pencil and gouache on paper, 2022. Original size 48 x 36 cm.
Sebastian Martinez
Gouache on paper, 2021. Original size 105 x 78 cm.