Toms’s artworks explore themes of intangible and physical transience, spirituality and human essence, our interconnectedness with the environment and the impact we are having on this finite resource. Through the creation of allegorical memento-mori pieces, Toms seeks to intrigue the viewer by slightly subverting reality, reminding audiences of the ever fleeting nature of our delicate relationship with the natural environment. In her latest painting ‘Florecer’, Toms explores the importance of family and heritage, inviting audiences to reflect on the permanence of love that transcends the boundaries of life and death. Toms is moved by the spiritual and supernatural, and these find voice in her work.
Clare Toms is a visual artist with ties between Australia and Mexico. Whilst frequently working with photography and installation, she majored in Oil Painting at University which is her main area of practice. Toms exhibits with galleries and has artwork in private collections throughout Australia and internationally.
Clare Toms has been a finalist in numerous art prizes and was successful in winning the Lethbridge 10000 Art Prize (Lethbridge Gallery - Brisbane Australia). She shows in a range of galleries around Australia and internationally, and has been a finalist in a range of prizes including the Exposure Photography Award (shown in a digital exhibition at The Louvre - Paris), the Waterhouse International Art Prize (South Australian Museum - Adelaide), the William and Winifred Bowness Photographic Prize (Monash Gallery of Art - Melbourne), the Eutick Memorial Still Life Award (Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery NSW), the Stanthorpe Regional Gallery Biennial Prize (Stanthorpe, Australia), the Linden Postcard Prize (Linden Gallery Melbourne) and the Yen Mag Art Award (Australia). Toms’s work featured in the notable museum exhibition ‘Romancing the Skull’ at Art Gallery of Ballarat, specifically in the salon alongside the artwork of historically significant Mexican artist Jose Guadalupe Posada (1852 - 1913). Other highlights of the exhibition include a Nuremberg Chronicle dating from 1493 depicting one of the earliest Danse Macabre images, and Australian artist Shaun Gladwell’s Virtual Reality work Orbital Vanitas 2016, which debuted at Sundance Film Festival in 2017. The exhibition included works by acclaimed contemporary Australian artists such as Sam Jinks, Rona Green, Michael Zavros, Sam Leach and Ben Quilty, and specially commissioned works by Fiona Hall, Reko Rennie and Sally Smart.
Toms’s artwork has been published in the Exposure Awards ‘Nature Collection’ hardcover book and in SemiPermanent 2017’s ‘Designing for Change’, Issue 9 of FreshPaint Magazine (UK/USA), Beautiful Bizarre Magazine, as well as online in the Australian Financial Review. Toms’s work is in private collections across Australia and overseas, and was invited to produce work for acquisition into Imago Mundi of the Luciano Benetton Collection.
In parallel to her painting practice, Toms has worked on various creative projects such as an international collaboration, teaching visual arts and working with primary schools as part of an Intercultural art exchange program between Australia and Peru. In addition to participating in exhibitions in various countries, other international projects she has been involved with include having printed work exhibited as part of a travelling exhibition which traversed the Trans-Siberian Railway (Beijing to Moscow), and also in Mexico with an installation piece being included in ‘CollecArte' a Mexico City Arts Festival.
