Tom Driscoll

Now Open – Tom Driscoll

| ICE Gallery

Hello Friends. It’s been quite awhile, hasn’t it? Well, we’re finally back.

Tom Driscoll returns for his third show at Ice Gallery with a series of work that’s 15 years old yet has never been shown. In addition, he has made a new piece for the exhibition that is his most monumental to date.

We really wish we could’ve had a proper opening reception for this show, but obviously the pandemic has put a damper on all things social. However, it is strongly encouraged that you make an appointment if you wish to view the work in person. Some people feel uncomfortable making an appointment to see art, but not to worry, it’s no bother. We WANT you to see it up close. So please don’t hesitate. Or, you can always view the work anytime of day or night from outside the building through the two arched windows. Please contact Michael to set up a time for viewing. We hope to see you all soon.

A closing reception and some press for Tom Driscoll

| ICE Gallery

Tom Driscoll Artbound

It’s not often that San Diego artists get written about for publications or blogs that reach outside of the county. Other than CityBeat, who seems to be the most consistent, local coverage for art in San Diego is rather pitiful. That’s why I was pleased that Robert Pincus decided to make Tom Driscoll the subject of his maiden piece for Artbound.  It’s fantastic that Artbound/KCET is making an effort to cover all of southern California, not just LA. We’re small, but there are some interesting things happening down here in SD.

Speaking of interesting art…

Tom Driscoll at ICE Gallery

 

Closing reception is this Saturday, May 2nd, from 6-9pm. See you there.

Tom Driscoll – Opening Reception

| ICE Gallery

Driscoll Studio Cones

Ever since I saw the way Tom had his concrete cones displayed in his garage I’ve been itching to see them in a proper exhibition. Cut to 3 years later and the time has come to show just about every last one that he has. Some date back 20 years, however most have never been shown. The 16 foot tall walls in the gallery will be well utilized.

Please join Tom and I on Saturday, March 21st, 6-9pm.

Tom Driscoll Announcement web

 

 

Tom Driscoll, New Website

| ICE Gallery

Tom Driscoll in his studio

Tom and I have become close friends over the last couple of years. In that time I’ve hung out at his studio on numerous occasions (pretty much once or twice a week at this point). It doesn’t matter how often I visit him, every time I’m there he’s got new work to show me. I really admire his output as well as the quality and variety of his work. It really bothers me that an artist like Tom isn’t selling his work left and right. I’m sure part of the reason he’s not as sought after as I believe he should be is because, although extremely charming, he’s a very humble man who’s not much on marketing himself or his work. I’m not very good at marketing myself either, but I really wanted to help Tom in any way I could to get his name out there. That’s why I worked with Tom over the last few weeks to build him a new website that could adequately represent the diversity of his work. However, even though there’s an impressive array of work on this site, it’s only a fraction of the amount of work that Tom has in storage. He’s an extremely prolific artist that definitely has enough work for multiple solo shows, if not a full on institutional retrospective.

 

I encourage anyone who reads this to please pass on Tom’s website to any gallery you think might be interested in his work. Tom has been making interesting art for over 45 years! He is in the collection of many prominent collectors here in San Diego including the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, but I think it’s time he get’s some broader exposure.

 

Pass it on.

 

http://www.tomdriscoll.net/

 

Tom Driscoll with cones

Our last show: Tom Driscoll

| ICE Gallery

Tom Driscoll opening

We couldn’t have been more pleased with our last show at ICE Gallery.  It was such a pleasure to work with our good friend Tom Driscoll, and he didn’t disappoint with his final results.  We gave Tom free reign to show any work he wanted and to do anything he saw fit with the space.   Initially he asked us what kind of show/work we wanted to see from him.  Our response was to tell him “it doesn’t matter what we want.  You just do the exact show that you want to see, and we’ll help you realize it”.

dirty wet gallery

The photo above is what the gallery looked like about 2 weeks before the opening.  The space had been a disaster for so many months, it felt good to get it all cleaned up and ready for install one last time.

2 foam sculptures

Tom’s idea for an “all foam show”, along with his decisions on how to show the work was just the kind of unique approach we love about Tom and his work.  Just about every piece was made specifically for the show and a couple pieces were made specifically with the space in mind.

Philipp shooting Toms work

We had the best turn out to date at the opening and everyone seemed to really enjoy the work.  In fact our good friend Philipp Scholz Rittermann was so excited by the show that he offered to shoot it for Tom.  The shots came out great!  Check them out full screen in the slideshow below.

So, what the hell is going on with ICE?

| ICE Gallery

Well, we’re still gearing up to replace the roof but it’s been a slow process.  Our fundraiser late last year was just short of being a failure.  However, thanks to 23 very gracious individuals, we did obtain about $2700 which we are still sitting on.  The next step is to find a roofer/contractor who can give us some free step by step advice on how to do the job ourselves (anybody know one?).  We don’t even know if it’s going to be possible with only $3000, but what other choice is there?  Such is life.  We’re still going to try our hardest.

On a brighter note, when we do finally get ICE back on it’s feet (hopefully by the fall) one of our first orders of business will be to have an exhibition with local artist Tom Driscoll.

In the past, ICE has been solely at the disposal of the 4 guys involved (and we’re still not going to be taking submissions or anything like that) – but when our buddy Tom Driscoll invited us to see his studio, we were all so impressed that we knew we wanted to show his work (he also got extra points for being the only local artist to come to every opening at ICE, usually accompanied by another great San Diego artist, Richard Allen Morris).  Tom is a highly under appreciated artist that has been making art in San Diego for many years (he even used to have a studio right across the street from ICE!)  We know Tom will do something great with our space, but until that time please enjoy some photos we took during our visit to Toms studio (the slideshow can be viewed full screen):