|
|
ABOUT ARTIST TOM MOSSER AND HOW HIS DOG MADE HIM FAMOUS! by Dale Youngman
Passionate about drawing since he started walking, Tom Mosser never gave any other interests fair play. There was simply never anything else he cared about as much. Fortunately, his parents were also unwavering – in their support and encouragement of his desire to pursue art as a career. They saw his passion, his obsession, and recognizing talent, they encouraged him every step of the way.
Tom began using his talents professionally while still in junior high, when he started helping his father, an advertising director. Later, Tom graduated with a BFA in Fine Art from Penn State, where he was a cheerleader his senior year. After graduation, he applied for his “dream job” as an illustrator, cartoonist, and page designer with Sporting News Magazine, but was sidetracked when his sister alerted him to another possibility, an option he did not really take seriously until he was offered it. Initially trying out “just for fun,” Mosser beat out 250 applicants after the week-long series of auditions and interviews – and became The Pirate Parrot, the official mascot for the MLB Pittsburgh Pirates. He decided it was a life experience he just couldn’t pass up.
Recalling another Warhol-ism, Mosser always tried to be unique, and thus became fluent in multiple mediums, including pastel, watercolor, pen and ink, and acrylic, while also developing his own unusual processes through unconventional tools. Painting with various sports balls, tires, sneakers, a funnel, or two tiny brushes simultaneously, Mosser has developed an array of techniques that take his work to the next level of unique, creating his own processes he calls “Flow Technique,” and “Loop and Line.” These techniques and tools have contributed to the success of three main bodies of work, all of which have brought both commercial success and thousands of followers. Mosser developed a style and process he calls “Sports Ball Impressionism” and the “Really Big Faces” portrait concept, but became an almost overnight phenom with a painting of his dog, and what became his best-known portrait that began “The Museum Series.”
Always maintaining his modus operandi of looking for ideas all around, Mosser’s other big lightbulb moment came while playing sand volleyball in the Highland Park area of Pittsburgh in the summer of 2014. Playing in damp sand, he noticed the balls left imprints of the patterns of their seams as they rolled in the sand. Grabbing a ball and rolling it around in the sand, he observed the distinct imprint of the balls.
Mosser worked for a year in secret before launching the theme while live painting with footballs at the “Taste of the (Minnesota) Vikings” charity event in 2015 in Minneapolis. That same day, he launched the “Tom Mosser Design” Facebook page, and began promoting his new signature style as “Sports Ball Impressionism.”
While always “painting with balls” and maintaining the Museum Series by continuing to evolve animals and their objects of desire, Mosser’s next big thing is literally BIG.
What is next for Mosser ? Think even bigger, as his next series is a collaboration with a photographer/teacher who lives at the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy in South Africa. With at least one safari planned for research, he wishes to create giant Flow and Funnel paintings of elephants loosely based on her photographs, some of which may be exhibited at her school in Ngaredare Village. They are planning a fund-raising joint exhibit of some kind for the school. Andy Warhol made the saying “Everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.” But we think Mosser and his “Always Looking“ strategy will surely result in longer staying power! _________________________________ Author Dale Youngman is an independent art curator, fine art dealer, marketing consultant and art writer, working to facilitate the flow of art in Southern California. She currently consults with artists, galleries, interior designers, non-profits, and a new art platform to advance business for everyone in the art world. She has twice been honored by the LA Mayor’s Office with “Certificates of Recognition“ for her many years of art advocacy. Find Dale at her website.
|
|
When a social media post of his dog-in-the-museum sketch garnered 200 “likes” in one hour, Mosser realized he was on to something. It spooked him, so he pulled the post, and spent about 8 hours on it over the next week, before getting onto other projects. Knowing it was a great idea and a fun painting, he still was unsure when showing it to his publisher, who thought it was a nice little painting. They wondered, “Will dog people buy art?”
The Minnesota Vikings were the first team to commission him to create art with his unique process. Mosser has since gone on to create work for the San Francisco 49’ers, Green Bay Packers, Golden State Warriors, Milwaukee Bucks, and Penn State University Football, incorporating a variety of work such as action art, stadium landscape, and especially logo treatments. In the past three years he has also had 4 sold-out sports-themed shows at Old Main Gallery at State College PA. 
