socialist surrealism • psychedelia • dreamscapes
on display May 2022
Tom Swetland is the former owner of Federal Street Books, where his artwork was displayed throughout the store. He’s a mostly self-taught artist, and his work includes collage, assemblage, mixed media and junk sculpture of assembled found objects.
He uses bold designs and colors to give his work power. His work pays homage to the spirits of nature, the politics of internationalism and our conscious striving for ecological balance.
The work is influenced by the great surrealist artists of the 1930s, tribal art and 60s psychedelic posters. He also gives homage to the great commercial illustration artists of 1950s, pulp fiction and and science fiction book cover artists.
An on-going theme is a critique of the usage of subtle propaganda in the omnipresent advertisement that surrounds us, and how that affects contemporary consciousness.
