Comments on: Orwell Got the Year Wrong

By: Tom Kristensen

Tom Kristensen — Thu, 16 Feb 2006 22:15:03 +0000

It’s always good to get approval, and yes, it sits at the bottom of my page at Saru, alongside Godzilla.

The Japanese were also great prognosticators. The concept of Godzilla, that we meddle with the Earth and create a vengeful force, has come to pass. The cyclones forming in the gulf of Mexico, for instance.

Astro Boy is set in the year 2000. He exists in a sterile world where technology and artifical intelligence are the instruments of all power. Like Pinocchio, his father could not love him because he would not grow.

By: Zia

Zia — Thu, 16 Feb 2006 18:04:28 +0000

Although I’m not an artist, per se, I am a writer–and there’s always a contrast between what I feel is my best work versus what others think. To my mind, works that are layered are often the most powerful; depending on the medium, they make you think, look again, listen over and over …

I hadn’t seen Dunes and Fence, but just looked at it on artelino. You said it is most the most recent: will it be appearing at Saru Gallery? At risk of sounding fatuous and ass-kissy, I think it’s my favorite so far …

By: Tom Kristensen

Tom Kristensen — Thu, 16 Feb 2006 05:29:32 +0000

They all mean something to me. The prints that evoke sunny pleasant times are the most popular, I like to defend the difficult ones. Some images translate well to the computer, while others have extra appeal in real life. In this category would be #16, Shell and Sand. It’s a modest print, I like the soft colours and the limited depth of field. The island sits in the background like a cloud. The latest, Dunes and Fence #20, was also a print I like a lot, but not so popular. It shows a wire fence in amongst a mess of foliage on a crisp day. Often I spend time out in the wind on a day when the water is choppy and no-one would be swimming.

By: Zia

Zia — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 17:14:19 +0000

No glaring grammar or spelling that I could see! Googling oneself is a very easy thing to become obsessed with; I do it myself with appalling regularity. In any case, welcome and I’m so glad you stopped by. I really love your prints; to me, they retain a quintessential Japanese perspective and sensibility while at the same time being experimental and unique. This, you understand, from someone who is not an expert in any way, just an appreciator. Just out of curiosity–and this is probably one of those absolute questions that tend to drive me nuts, but I’m going to ask anyway–are there any of your 36 Views of Green Mountain series that you are particularly partial to?

By: Tom Kristensen

Tom Kristensen — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 13:34:00 +0000

I am the woodblocking Tom Kristensen. Google tells me that there is one other Tom Kristensen, a Danish Formula 1 driver, who ranks far higher than I do. Then there was another existentialist Danish novelist, so depressing that no Dane will recommend him for fear of tarnishing the national image. No longer a real concern.

When people ask me what I do with my art, I tell them to google me, safe in the knowledge that they will never find me. Firstly, they have to spell my name, and then they have to try to remember what exactly it is that I do, wood-somethings? Often they come across Tom Killion who is an accomplished American woodblock artist. I am, however, quite good at googling myself.

By the way, there is no grammar or spell-check with a Blog entry, which makes me nervous. You have my permission to make all necessary corrections.

By: Zia

Zia — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 22:37:14 +0000

I despise the Bush administration — maybe I’ll emigrate to Australia! Are you Tom Kristensen, the printmaker I so admire?

By: Tom Kristensen

Tom Kristensen — Sat, 11 Feb 2006 11:52:43 +0000

Yep… that’s about the size of it. Your dossier is starts here.