OPENING RECEPTION: SATURDAY, March 29, 2025 | FWADA SPRING GALLERY NIGHT 12:00 – 9:00 PM
EXHIBITION ON VIEW: March 29 – MAy 10, 2025
Recent Abstractions, an exhibition of works by nationally renowned New Mexico artist Kevin Tolman, will be on display March 29 through May 10 at William Campbell Gallery. The gallery will host an opening event on FWADA Spring Gallery Night, Saturday, March 29, at its new location, 217 Foch Street. The gallery will be open from noon until 9:00 p.m., and guests can meet the artist during the evening reception, starting at 6:00 p.m.
To that end, Tolman’s artwork serves as a visual response to his encounters with nature, both locally in New Mexico and in places as far afield as Portugal. His creative drive is fueled by everyday objects and occurrences that, for him, have extraordinary impact: the change of seasons, the formation of stone monoliths over eons, or the phases of the moon. As he observes these natural metamorphoses, he also considers how they converge with human constructs, how their power and resilience endure, regardless of the state of civilization.
Compositionally, Tolman’s artwork juxtaposes organic spontaneity with geometric restraint to create a complex visual interplay that reflects his process of balancing instinctual mark making with deliberate design. As much as he strives to incorporate chance and discovery into his painting practice, Tolman also remains mindful of structural components like balance and color arrangement. He remarks, “Painting for me is a rhythm between this type of focus on the one hand, and the relinquishing of control on the other.”
“I find myself often looking closely at details, forms, patterning and movement, and all these things, in a way, get stored up in me as information to be brought to a painting as I work,” he says. In that vein, Tolman’s compositions explore how abstracted visual elements interact with and respond to one another. Steeped in pigment, individual shapes, lines, marks, and drips abut and overlap, building in some places, eroding in others, and ultimately fusing together to reveal the evolution of layers as they transform into one cohesive discourse.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
A native of Detroit who now lives in Albuquerque, Kevin Tolman has been painting professionally for more than five decades. He has exhibited work in galleries, museums, and universities across the United States, in Fort Worth, Dallas, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and New York. He has shown internationally in Canada, Mexico, Germany, France, England, and Portugal.
Tolman’s work has been featured in many publications, including Art in America, THE Magazine, Southwest Art, the Dallas Morning News, and the Albuquerque Journal, among others. It appears in various private and public collections as well, among them the Albuquerque Convention Center, the Albuquerque Museum of Art, the University of New Mexico, the New Mexico State Capitol, Bank One, the HGTV Dream Home 2010, Hyatt Hotels, Mutual of Omaha, Neiman Marcus, Union Pacific, and the Palazzo Resort in Las Vegas.
Kevin Tolman is a graduate of the Art School of the Society of Arts and Crafts in Detroit. In 1990, he spent a year painting in Arraiolos, Portugal, and has returned to the country regularly, most recently completing two artist residencies with Cortex Frontal and the Obras Foundation. He has traveled and worked throughout Europe, Mexico, and South America as well. William Campbell Contemporary Art began representing Tolman in 1978.