Aaron Levi Garvey, Janet L. Nolan Director of Curatorial Affairs, speaks with interdisciplinary artist, Tommy Coleman. A performance with musician Ben Seretan opens the evening.
Tommy Coleman is a Florida-grown, Brooklyn-based interdisciplinary Artist, Designer, and Educator who produces masterfully crafted objects, and staunchly sincere albeit witty images. Coleman’s practice implores investigations of honesty and intimacy while observing the perceptional breakdowns that accompany anxiety and identity in the contemporary climate- all done by way of navigating nuances of control and what is considered permissible within the internal and external boundaries of public and private space. His work has been exhibited and published internationally through institutions like The Museum of Art and Design, The Atlanta Contemporary, Homesession, Cranbrook Academy, The Museum of Modern Art and UCLA.
Ben Seretan is a musician and writer living in Troy, New York whose joy-oriented work covers a lot of ground, from the towering autobiographical sprawl of 2018’s 24-hour-long My Life’s Work to the ecstatic breaking-up-with-God worship anthems of 2020’s Youth Pastoral to the serene Appalachian forest ghosts caught in a net on 2021’s Cicada Waves. In addition to these more traditional recordings, Ben has published a hard-to-describe weekly newsletter featuring writing and new music every Thursday since 2019. He also recently began taking commissions for Personal Tone Zones – one-of-a-kind, custom, totally individual recordings – and currently enjoys working as a bartender and sound tech at a local music venue.
