Tomasz Rut

Tomasz Rut

his important website on the work of Tomasz Rut illustrates and documents the work of this gifted artist whose masterful, illusionary paintings, both in scale and splendor, evoke the harmony and form of the master painters of the past.
Rut's imaginary figures - centaurs, fauns, muses, and winged creatures - colorfully burst from the canvas with the grandiosity of Olympian Gods in active and dramatic poses.
His paintings express a whole range of human emotions and communicate passion, inspiration, power and strength.
The art of Tomasz Rut, recently included in the Vatican Collection and blessed by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, continues to expand the realm of contemporary figurative painting to the limits achieved only by the greatest art masters in history.
Evoking the passion of Michelangelo, the subtlety of Caravaggio and the flamboyance of Rubens, Tomasz Rut, also named one of the most collectible contemporary artists by Robb Report’s Best of the Best, resurrects the dormant classical tradition of painting in a XXI century tribute to the perseverance of the human ability and spirit, which transcends the ebbs and flows of modern fashions.
Inherent in all of Tomasz Rut’s original oils on canvas, ranging from large scale dramatic allegories to small, sensuous studies, is the artificial patina he adds on surface to create an illusion of an old fresco and accentuate the timeless subject matter. “By this juxtaposition of spiritual versus physical, I hope to convey the quality that transcends time and suggests the eternal nature of our ethical struggle for survival”, says Tomasz, “Hence, beauty and decay, creation and destruction as the woof and warp of my canvases".
Conceived during the XVII Olympic Games in Rome, Italy, at the Olympic village by Tadeusz Rut, an Olympic athlete and medalist, and his wife, Wanda, an artist and art teacher, Tomasz was born in Poland in 1961 and displayed his extraordinary talent since early childhood.
At the age of eleven, his first drawings, collected by his mother; frequently from his school notebooks in lieu of good school grades; were exhibited at a solo gallery show, receiving a write-up in Warsaw Daily. Even at that early stage, young Tomasz’s exploration, often satirical, of humanity and his search for an artistic expression, echoing a variety of familiar modern renditions and classical themes, is abundantly clear.
Interestingly, apart from his prominent, mainstream realistic form of capturing his subject matter, TR never abandoned “frivolous”, abstract experimentation and satire, as evidenced in a multitude of private sketches and drawings he continues to amuse himself with in his spare time.
In his twenties, TR extensively pursued formal art studies. He attended Pratt Institute in New York, but despite the recognition of the Presidents list, he chose to investigate the purely technical aspect of art, graduating with a Master’s Degree in Art Conservation from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. In the course of his studies, he became intimately familiar with all traditional easel and mural painting techniques, including varieties of oil and fresco, and gained a profound knowledge of art history and understanding of it's styles.
While continually drawing and painting in search of a definitive form of expression, upon returning to settle in the U.S., Tomasz briefly employed his skills working for Biltmore House in Asheville, NC and on several mural conservation projects throughout the Eastern U.S., which included the prestigious Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., the State Capitol in Trenton, N.J., Vizcaya Museum in Miami, FL and the Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach, FL.
Within the following few years, his attention shifted to executing large scale decorative projects with many well known interior designers for numerous prominent Palm Beach and South Beach estates in Florida. “I must say I was quite taken by the splendor, aesthetic challenge and vast scale of some projects”, recalls Tomasz: “It took one year, eight assistants and approximately half a million dollars worth of 24 Karat gold leaf alone to turn one of the estates into a trompe l’oeil (deceive the eye) European palace”. “After this, I knew I could paint anything, in any style, anywhere, with anything and on anything”, he adds jokingly, but not without merit.
Finding and formulating his own distinctive style and method of painting in the early 1990s, Tomasz gradually abandoned commissioned work and devoted himself fully to painting in his studio. “Before I even had a collection of paintings to speak of”, Tomasz says: “A British art publisher grabbed the few pieces I had laying around and introduced me to the idea and market of limited edition prints. My work was very well received and, shortly, appeared in many galleries on land and on cruise ships, marketed by my exclusive agents and publishers”.
In 1999 Robb Report’s Best of the Best issue named Tomasz Rut as one of the most collectible contemporary artists, among such names as Botero, Chihuly, Hockney, and Clemente. After many years of being represented exclusively by others, Tomasz Rut is now marketing and selling his artwork independently, enjoying direct and personal contact with galleries and collectors.
On October 12, 2011 during the artist’s audience with His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, two large original paintings by Tomasz Rut officially entered St. Peter’s Cathedral becoming part of the Vatican collection
Today he paints and sculpts in his studio in Hollywood, FL, a large extension of his home, which he designed and built. Tomasz's home studio has been showcased in Florida Design Magazine. Among other creative hobbies, Tomasz enjoys working in his garden and gourmet cooking, featured in Miami Herald.He has hosted several collectors events at his house, personally taking his guests on the tours of his studio and entertaining them with food and wine from in own kitchen.