The Thomas Brothers are an art duo that have channelled sibling rivalry into a creative melting pot of artistic explosion. The brothers draw nostalgic references from their childhood to produce contemporary art with Pop themes inspired by 80’s cartoons, Japanese toys and constantly trying to out-do each other!
As children of the 80’s they have held onto the icons, imagery and imagination of their childhood ever since. “Our childhood seeps into our work, from the comic style drawings to graffiti and popular culture,” explain The Thomas Brothers.
One of the brothers trained in Illustration and Fine Art, whilst the other studied Media and Film. Since then, between them, they have worked in 3D graphics and as full-time artists working on individual projects as well as their art-duo creations. They live in different parts of the country so their studio is a get together every now and then around the kitchen table.
The creative siblings explore themes such as duality, nostalgia, good vs. evil, fairy tales and childhood. Their artwork represents their common interests, explaining, “the paintings themselves are all the points in which our individualities overlap.” They are both passionate about vintage toys, comics, and cartoons, all of which you can spot in their distinctive imagery.
They create their work through a process of “collaborative layering”. The process changes all of the time, “one of us might layout an idea or portrait illustration then swap so the other adds background elements or layers it up. It can be as simple as having an idea you like and the other working out how to incorporate it,” explains one of the brothers.
The Thomas Brothers are inspired by artists who have been successful in transforming comic book imagery into contemporary visual art, like Takashi Murakami and Yoshitomo Nara. They find inspiration in their own memorabilia collections, at comic cons and in the work of other artists such asJean-Michel Basquiat, Hush, Mike Giant and Audrey Kawasaki.
“The brothers part of ‘Thomas Brothers’ isn’t just superficial, that’s the whole thing with our art, it’s the parts of our lives that form the bond between us visualised, so if there’s something we’re both into, like transformers, we’ll find a way to work that into a painting.”.
