Tommy Shenkar

Born 1965 in California, Tommy Shenkar is an American-Israeli artist known for his pop-art collages,  also channelling his creative energy into making high-end furniture and jewellery. He studied art history at Santa Monica College where he took additional courses to study interior design and architecture. He was influenced by pop artists like Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Robert Mars. Assembling a plethora of texts, and photographic prints and renditions into one frame, they can be termed as coming of age portraiture, redefining the conventionality, garbed in glamorous guise.

Despite studying art, Shenkar was unsatisfied and felt something was missing. It was then, knowing his strength, he decided to reinvent his practice developing a path-breaking style. He continued to dabble in multiple mediums before landing on designing high-end furniture and silversmith work. Today, Shenkar designs projects for the Hollywood elite and projects.

Restricted by the redundancy in his practice, he shifted to pop art as a new outlet for his creative vent. The seminal influence of his younger years in California is evident in his depictions by use of vibrant colours and depiction of Mexican culture. A vintage theme is recurrent to Tommy’s work as it evokes nostalgia in the audience. 

The layering of colours, materials and his subjects overlap essentially, materialising a purposeful sense of chaotic quality. Materials such as recycled wood and plastic complement yet highlight the consumerist mishap that everybody is engulfed in.  Employing recycled material, among other varieties, the palette also continues to embody a relative junction of the representations.

Shenkar has made a name for himself in multiple creative professions. Juxtaposing famous images from history, culture, cinema, literature, art, some of his notable works include American Journey, Aces High, Beam me Up, among others. 

Tommy Shenkar lives and works in California.