Rogue Simian

Through his art practice Tolmie explores the multiplicity of existence predominantly through the medium of video. Over the past five years his work has explored themes of meditation, transcendence and immanence by investigating the flow of light and time on people and landscapes. He plays with opposing ideas and then fuses them together. Rather than transcendence and immanence or creation and destruction as binary opposites the artist explores the tension of these seemingly competing states of existence as combined dualities. It is not a political or spiritual investigation for the artist but rather an individual exploration of the state of existence. As the poet Fernando Pessoa wrote:
“…. here’s what my senses learned all by themselves:Things have no meaning-they have existence.Things are the only hidden meaning of things.”
He tries to present the subject as something that is timeless but real and immediate at the same moment. His work is about allowing people’s movements and actions to fold upon themselves so that past and present meet in various layers (generating a visual and temporal abstraction of the moment and the body).
His background comes from studying digital media at the College of Fine Arts (COFA) in Sydney and also VJing – from parties to working with a progressive metal band to performing with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra to celebrate the Sydney Opera House’s 40th birthday. He tries to blend these different spheres, (allowing the ideas from the various subcultures to cross over and influence his art works). He is also a cofounder of the Sydney based collective Tame the Pixels.
With influence from Oskar Fischinger, he tries to discover creativity in a form of abstraction through video. Other influences on his practice are James Turrell’s large scale light rooms and Bill Viola’s video installations.