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Tom was born in 1951 in Jersey City, New Jersey. His parents were Hispanic and Sicilian. Tom doesn't remember not drawing. His early images are similar to his current paintings, abstracted realism. He also enjoyed making assemblages, from paper, wood and any other objects he could find. Tom dropped out of school after the tenth grade. He and his former wife supported themselves making glass jewelry and selling it at art shows. That work stopped when they divorced but he continued to expand on that idea, doing assemblages in glass tubes. To support himself, Tom became what he calls a "handyman", primarily house painting and carpentry. He stopped doing much in the way of artwork until about five years ago, when he started painting. Tom has developed a format and style that is unique. He likes the look and texture he gets from washing and wrinkling his canvases. The resulting frayed edge frames each piece. He may work on as many as ten canvases at a time, using a tube of acrylic like a pencil to lay down his images. There is usually one representational form in his paintings and the remaining images, usually abstracted, draw from that theme. After "sketching", he applies the color, using his hands and wet rags. Tom's sense of color is good, varying between bright and jewel-like or darker, more tonal paints. Each canvas is well composed. The viewer's eye moves from form to form, following his carefully placed lines. Bursts of color and activity are nicely balanced with quiet, negative space. Tom draws on his carpentry skills to complete each work with a hand-built frame painted to enhance the canvas.
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