tom weast

"...Weast's work concentrates on how, in the name of happiness and fulfillment, male-driven culture constructs and enforces images and ideas of the female body that alienate women from happiness and fulfillment. According to Weast, who has two daughters, 'putting a Seventeen magazine in a girl's hands is like giving her a loaded gun.' Exaggeration? Maybe, but maybe the statistics and stories tell otherwise; they tell of shame, self-loathing, shattered self-esteem and even suicide, for especially girls bombarded by these images..." (September 1997, Lee Horwitz/Professor/Miami University Press, - Miami University Press

...Tom Weast's portrayal of a dingy, lived in work shirt with a calendar showing through reminded me of just such mundane concerns. Limply hanging askew, this shirt doesn't provide fanciful distraction but did add a certain je ne sais quoi..." (January 1998, Sarah Beuhrie) - everybody's news

"...Accidental...he, more than any other artist we've had in here. This is what he does. It's not a business kind of thing for him..." (November 1999, Joelle Daniel, Assistant Director, Enjoy the Arts/START) - START

"...To know Weast, to know his creations, is to understand the understated passion and intensity he translates from himself to his artwork..." (November 1999, Sean Rowe,Cincinow.com) http://www.cincinow.com/arts/gallery/story3.shtml - cincinow.com

"Painting and drawing descriptions of recent work by Cincinnati, Ohio visual artist Tom Weast, The City of Cincinnati recently awarded this artist an Art's Allocation Grant to portray the city's school children titled Heroes 2000. It dealt with 100 students and their thoughts on their lives. Artist biography, past exhibits, public criticisms make for an interesting addition to the site. Other experimental, social and political themed works are included by this award-winning artist." SPEAKS FOR ITSELF web site describing this web site. 2001. - SPEAKS FOR ITSELF website

"While you're in the neighborhood, check out the new Tom Weast exhibit at DESIGNSMITH GALLERY.....The small show of flower and leaf studies has mainstream appeal."
Kate Brauer. 'LOOK HERE' from CITY BEAT newspaper DEC 6, 2001.
- CINCINNATI CITY BEAT newspaper

Breaking Down Walls
Base Cooperative Gallery celebrates the Age of Obama
By Steven Rosen
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
As Barack Obama prepares to become America’s 44th president on Jan. 20, there are many who see something of themselves in his progressive, time-for-a-change victory against the ruinous Republican status quo.
Those include visual artists working on the fringes, showing in urban co-op galleries with limited hours or in coffee houses and group shows at alternative spaces. Their work is sometimes politicized and sometimes offbeat in choice of subject matter and media, so they often find themselves a long way from the mainstream.

“How many times have we felt we’re not being heard, just an isolated part of a minority while the majority represents people you have a strong disagreement within the way that they think,” asks Tom Weast, director of Over-the Rhine’s 17-year-old Base Cooperative Gallery at 1225 Main St.
But now he feels enfranchised. And that’s especially exciting in Hamilton County, Weast says, since it went Democratic for the first time since 1964 and helped carry crucial Ohio for Obama.
“For the first time in a long time, I don’t feel I’m in the minority about the way the country is being handled,” he says. “Being a visual artist and seeing this new energy emerging, I want to tap into it. You can’t help but be affected by what’s around you. It was so powerful, you couldn’t think of anything else.”
Under Weast’s leadership, Base has announced a group show to open on Jan. 30, shortly into the first 100 days of the Obama administration. It will also tap into what is sure to be a key component of Obama’s policies — green consciousness.
Called Recycle Political: Celebrating a New President, its stated goal is “New Voices. New Country. New President. New Art.” The hope, Weast explains, is to receive submissions that reuse, in a creative way, political-campaign material — yard signs, political buttons, posters, bumper stickers, U.S. mail, e-mail, phone messages, TV and radio ads, newspaper advertisements … you name it.
For logistical reasons, Base is encouraging applicants to first submit slides, jpegs, videos, recordings, etc., of the work for consideration. (There is no application fee.) It wants to receive all submissions by Jan. 24; the show will run from Jan. 30 through Feb. 22. The opening-night reception, part of Final Friday in Over-the-Rhine, is 6-10 p.m. Regular hours are noon-5 p.m. Friday-Sunday.
By the way, all political persuasions are welcome, and work can relate positively or negatively to John McCain and Sarah Palin too. Actually, artists can use any material they want — the recycling theme is just a strong suggestion.
“I wanted to use the debris — the stuff people normally throw in the garbage after a campaign is over,” Weast says. “I wanted to find a way to turn it into something that extends itself. There’s all this good material you can use.”
While it’s assumed most of the submissions will be from this area, Base is open to work from anywhere and anyone. (One teacher has already asked Weast if students can submit as a class project.) Artists can sell their work, with Base getting a 20 percent cut. (For most shows, the gallery’s commission is 40 percent.)
The heart of the show, as the title makes clear, is in celebrating Obama.
“Being a co-op gallery, and out of the mainstream, you couldn’t help but get excited about his success,” Weast says. “He presented himself as a person who wanted to relate to the mainstream, and people could see he was a gifted person who didn’t want to be confined by any barriers or walls in front of him. You think that the same thing might apply for alternative arts.
“He’s made people think about dropping the barrier in all aspects of life, and to rethink how to connect with others.”
Base started in 1992, about the same time that Main Street was exploding as an arts/entertainment/nightlife district. The area was attracting artists looking for low-rent, high-creativity studio and gallery space. While Main Street has had its problems since then, Base has held on. But it’s been a struggle.
Weast says it should have about 20 members — paying $35 a month and volunteering time to operate the place and mount shows — to be healthy. It currently has just nine. To remain viable, the gallery has thematic and invitational shows as well as exhibits and appearances by guest artists. For instance, the Japanese-born avant-garde percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani did a performance there during a tour.
The gallery relies on a grant from the Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile Jr./U.S. Bank Foundation to offset expenses and mount shows.
“We want to generate some excitement to get people to look at art in Cincinnati,” Weast says. “We want people to come into an art gallery even if they’re not already art patrons. We want to break down a wall.”
He hopes, in the Age of Obama, more people are willing to do that.
- CINCINNATI CITY BEAT