A retrospective by Leeds artist Tony Tomlin opens in Leeds this week, offering a revealing glimpse into Chapeltown life.

Venue: Leeds Central Library
Municipal Buildings Calverley Street Leeds LS1 3AB.
Dates and Times:
Monday 7th – Sunday 27th January
(Monday – Wednesday 09:00 – 20:00)
(Thursday – Friday 09:00 – 17:00)
(Saturday 10:00 – 17:00)
(Sunday 13:00 – 17:00)

Winner of the Union 105 Salon Prize in 2011, every art tutor in Leeds knows Tomlin. He has enrolled on art courses from entry to higher education, and has been the unofficial ‘artist-in-residence’ at Leeds City College for over 20 years. Aged 53, Tomlin has probably spent more time in education and art classes than any Royal Academician.

His work is often autobiographical, hilarious and frank. Street scenes in Chapeltown, conversations, nightclubs, religion, identity, sex, and the role art plays in his life are all regular themes in his work.

A well-known character in Leeds, Tomlin’s prolific output could easily be described as Outsider Art. Using felt tips, biros, cardboard, and poster paint his art tutor Kevin O’Hare fondly calls him ‘a craftsman and master of crappy materials’. Tomlin eschews high quality oils, canvas and pastels for materials close at hand. His work reveals a side to Chapeltown life that has rarely been documented in visual art.

In 2011 he published a book of his work Do Not Touch Tony Tomlin, via East Street Arts and Leeds City College. He has recently been the subject of a film Tony Tomlin and Me by filmmaker Dave Peel: http://vimeo.com/32478453