Pat Thomas: Drawing the fabric of memory
By Gaby Stein
Pat Thomas illustrates the beauty and intimacy of human moments. The artist’s strokes of coloured pencil depict graceful figures intertwined in rooms bursting with light and colour. Domestic objects are imbued with meaning, elevating Thomas’ feelings and memories into striking narrative illustrations. With an impressive roster of clients, from big names Apple and the New York Times to jazz-house musician Berlioz, Thomas has accomplished a considerable amount at just twenty-nine years old. Emulating the obscure anatomy of Stanley Spencer and the ethereal tones of Edward Burne-Jones, Thomas urges us to reconsider our endless use of technology in favour of real, human interaction.
Fascinated by world-building as a child, Thomas occupied himself by assembling Lego structures and sketching pages of comics. The artist recollects an early fascination with ‘creating worlds’ and later illustrating scenes from these constructions. Architecture and graphic design were pathways initially pursued by Thomas, as both industries provided ample opportunity to draw. However, Thomas eventually dismissed the daunting prospect of rigid corporate creativity after falling in love with illustration on his art foundation course at Falmouth.
Thomas’ process is vastly analogue, often beginning at the local library. The artist scours books for images of compelling objects, characters or interiors, then scans and assembles them into a ‘big jpeg mystery box’ which he keeps on his computer. Thomas could be compared to a scavenger of sorts, constantly pulling inspiration from different bundles of images, ideas and experiences. These content banks form the basis of the artist’s subject matter, highlighting the overwhelmingly human nature of his work, as each reference is uniquely selected, and each experience is highly personal.
Figures depicted by Thomas are stylistically distinct and undoubtedly recognisable. Limbs sprawl and intertwine, sometimes disproportionately lengthy in comparison to minute heads. Inspired in part by the fluid sculptural forms of Henry Moore, Thomas constructs his figures with a soft and abstract curvature. These twisting contortions evoke a furniture-like quality, with the figures themselves merging into the fabric of the rooms that they occupy.
As a viewer, we question the identities of these tangled characters – are they real people or entirely imagined? Thomas asserts that the figures are inspired by people in his life, ‘they’re not specifically those people, maybe more of the way they make [him] feel’. In this way, Thomas draws from emotion and impression, rather than from life directly. Memory and emotion are deeply entangled in Thomas’ work, with each figure acting as an homage to a specific moment: ‘I might have a hug with one of my oldest friends – I’ll aim to draw that feeling, rather than simply drawing him’. Real human emotion surges forward in Thomas’ illustrations, with every mark carrying the sentimental value of a particular human connection.
Thomas’ recent series Room Tour focuses on how we give value not only to our human relationships but also to the spaces and objects that surround us. The artist depicts bookshelves, sofas, rugs, chairs and other miscellaneous domestic objects with a mellow sense of warmth and calm. Each drawing bursts with brilliant shades of red, green and blue, every pigment blending harmoniously with its neighbours. In Settlers, a beaming yellow radiates from an IKEA Kallax storage unit described by Thomas as ‘the altar of the house’, complemented by a striking blue Varier Furniture Ekstrem chair that belonged to a childhood friend. Thomas’ drawings, then, are collages of meaningful objects, people and experiences.
The illustrations are markedly narrative, inspired by the experiences and interactions of Thomas’ daily life. The artist scatters personal references everywhere, asserting that ‘no human or machine could replicate a work with all of the same references to a film I’ve watched, a book I’ve read, or a song I heard in a café’. This level of personal inspiration, combined with the lyrical warmth of Thomas’ coloured pencil marks, evokes drawings that are intensely real. The human touch is tangible and indisputable, a quality of high value in an age where digital media permeates life.
In fact, social media was once a primary source of creative inspiration for Thomas. However, the artist developed a mounting frustration with the ephemeral quality of digital content, arguing that ‘we shouldn’t be using our screens or devices to seek the parts of the process that make us feel’.
Thomas is resolute in his commitment to the portrayal of real emotion. Every aspect of the artist’s work is deeply human, from the personal memories to the delicate strokes of coloured pencil. In a world where we are swamped by deluges of digital media, Thomas encourages us to slow down and reflect on the beauty of an object, or the warmth of a memory.
Image Credit: Pat Thomas
