Painter Tom Wasik renders internal landscapes

Tom Wasik’s paintings could be abstract landscapes of the East End. They might be seen as conjuring green fields glowing fresh from spring rain, a fiery clutch of trees bursting with autumn’s splendor or deep ocean views softened and cloaked by fog.

But, truth be told, his paintings do portray picturesque vistas—they are landscapes of another sort, depicting scenes from Mr. Wasik’s internal landscape and channeling moments from his life. Ever since the Springs artist found his stride as a person, his art captures joy, celebrates life and embraces a personal journey well-traveled.

“In a sense, these are internal landscapes,” Mr. Wasik said. “I’m generally a happy person and I’m in a good place. There’s a sense of play to them. People have said there’s a lightness and a sense of happiness about them.”

Paintings from Mr. Wasik’s newest series are currently on view at Sylvester & Co. At Home in Amagansett. The exhibit, “Tom Wasik + Tom Steele” features 14 paintings by Mr. Wasik in the store’s main showroom. Landscape photography by Mr. Steele is located in the side showroom. The exhibition remains on view through April 20.

In terms of technique, Mr. Wasik’s work reveals his love of color and the way a simple yet expressive visual language can evoke a range of emotions. The paintings are compelling, but in a quiet way.

Bands of color arc into color fields above to mix, mingle and move upward into the next stretch up to the upper edge of the canvas. The paintings vibrate with subtle motion in thousands of crosshatched characters lying atop fields of color made by similar brush strokes. The crosshatching is how color and composition are developed on the canvas.

“The marks are about the joy and interest in creating a painting,” he said. “I wanted a simple visual vocabulary. My paintings are narrative and I wanted a simple language to tell the story.”

In considering his latest series, Mr. Wasik said he feels that he’s onto something good. The abstract fields of color contain what the Springs artist believes is his signature style—a style that includes expressive crosshatching. He hopes the different uses of a single simple symbol will help engender emotional, spiritual and intellectual contemplation.

The repetitive crosshatching also adds a visual tactfulness that helps make the work expressive, he said. To bolster the impression of texture, Mr. Wasik sometimes adds sand, silica or crumbled powder pigment to his paint. Color is crucial. How the fields of color relate and interact with each other is important to Mr. Wasik’s compositions. He reduces the gloss of the acrylic paint to achieve a matte finish so the complex crossings of color grab attention and hold it.

“I use a latticework of color to back the surface—some of which you can see in the crosshatch colors as they react to the color behind it,” he said. “It’s very psychological.”

In recent years, Mr. Wasik has combined his love of art with a passion for psychology. He obtained a master’s degree in social work from Stony Brook University and is a licensed psychotherapist. Before turning his attention to social work, Mr. Wasik received his BFA from the School of the Art Institute in Chicago and his MFA from Hunter College.

His art has been exhibited on the East End and in Manhattan, Chicago and beyond. Locally, he’s exhibited at the Hampton Road Gallery in Southampton, Sara Nightingale Gallery (at its original Water Mill location) and at Surface Library in Springs.

His dual callings allowed him to hone his skills of intuition, analysis, nuance and sensitivity, bringing another layer to his artwork.

The recent series caught the eye of Lynda Sylvester and Elizabeth Dow, who own Sylvester at Home in Amagansett. The series departs from a more defined use of geometric shapes to create abstract works that rely on brush strokes channeling Mr. Wasik’s attraction to the expressiveness of traditional Chinese calligraphy and the balance, elegance and asymmetrical use of space in Japanese woodblock.

With his latest series, Mr. Wasik has found a way to incorporate the things he holds dear: a passion for color, emotions expressed with grace, and introspection that leads to contemplation. The more he surrendered to the meditative and intuitive process of painting, the more he felt his art was in the right place.

“The whole process of painting is meditative,” he said. “I’m trying to get out of the way of a painting and not be attached to the outcome—to just be delighted to be in the process.”

“Tom Wasik + Tom Steele” remains on view through April 20 at Sylvester & Co. At Home, 154 Main Street, Amagansett. For information, call 267-9777 or visit www.sylvesterathome.com. Mr. Wasik’s artwork can be viewed at www.tomwasik.com.