One Artist, Five Questions: Thomas Roeser

Engage with new and returning artists before visiting the ArtPrize at Cathedral Square showcase venue to see their amazing array of work. Get insight into the artist's personal stories and creative ambitions through five enticing art-related questions:

This week: Thomas Roeser

Thomas Roeser, Ecuador, 2014, oil on canvas, 24 x 30 inches

Thomas is a Chicago-based artist who specializes in representational oil paintings which depict people in various urban settings. His fifth ArtPrize entry, Ecuador, highlights the uniqueness of Ecuador’s indigenous markets. The goods that are shown in the market often emanate in lush conditions without technological intervention. The market is depicted as a kaleidoscope of colorful sights displaying flowers, foods, textiles and crafts. Thomas hopes to reveal the understated beauty of the Ecuadorian cultural experience and its connection to worldly rhythms.

What is your background?

My formal background in art started at about age 12 when I won a $50 bond at a local art contest.  My parents then enrolled me in private oil painting lessons from a woman who provided art instruction out of her home.  I studied under her for a few years.  After earning a business degree in college, I studied commercial art from the American Academy of Art in Chicago.  After a brief career in commercial art, I rekindled my interest in oil painting and have pursued it ever since.

What themes do you pursue?

The themes I pursue often include a confluence of the urban landscape and the people who dwell within it.  I enjoy depicting the actions of people as they conduct their everyday affairs.   

What got you interested in art?

I have been interested in art ever since my fingers could hold a crayon.  I have been creating art ever since.

What is your preferred medium and why?

My preferred medium is oil painting because of its richness and permanence.

What style/genre do you most identify with and why?

The style I most identify is representational art.  I enjoy replicating texture, light and color from a three dimensional scene that I have observed, then photographed and translating that to a two dimensional work on a canvas.

Reflect with Thomas Roeser’s representational paintings: http://roeserart.com/