Dedicated To Amber
A moment in time that changed the rhyme.

Chicago Cultural Center - Write Now: Artists & Letterforms
installation (paper, acrylic & wood)
500 original signed paintings for viewers to take as a momento.

 

Forthcoming Exhibits & Projects

•  Write Now: Artists and Letterforms
Chicago Cultural Center
78 E. Washington St., Exhibit Hall
Sep 30, 2011 - Apr 29, 2012
This exhibition showcases a diverse range of recent works by more than 60 artists utilizing letters and text in a wide array of mediums.

•  Efroymson Fellows Retrospective
IMOCA -Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art
December 2, 2011 - February 28, 2012

•  Linda Warren Gallery (Solo)
February 2012

 

 

Biographical Notes

In a career spanning more than two decades, Chicago-area artist Tom Torluemke continues to be a vital contributor to the arts and culture of his home turf and far beyond, exhibiting regularly both in Chicago and throughout Indiana. While Torluemke's work in many ways is anchored by a firm sense of place, including the rich cultural diversity of his life-long home, his aesthetic transcends the concrete and allows for a fully developed voice within the context of his concern for truth and expressions of deep emotion, feeling and spirituality. At the heart of Torluemke's work is a yearning to understand and improve the human condition while coming to a greater understanding of humanity's true place in the universe.

Born and raised in Chicago's inner city, Torluemke continues to have a powerful impact on his immediate environs, including his current home of Dyer, Indiana, just across the Illinois border, as he continues to advocate for the educational role of the arts and strengthening the social and civic bonds between people and their communities. Through numerous public art projects, he has successfully employed the visual arts as a means to catalyze life-affirming skills in diverse groups of people, allowing them to realize their unique potential to improve society.

Torluemke works prolifically in a variety of media, including mural painting, stage design, mosaics, oil and acrylic painting, watercolor and sculpture. Solo and group exhibition highlights include:   "After Glow" at The Chicago Cultural Center; "The Inland See: Contemporary Art Around Lake Michigan," curated by James Yood; "Critic's Choice" at Jan Cicero Gallery in Chicago; "Present" at the Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago; "In the Company of Strangers" at the Brauer Museum of Art, Valparaiso, Indiana; "Bounce" at the South Bend Regional Museum of art in South Bend, Indiana; "Peace in the Arts" Baíhai International Peace Conference inSan Francisco; the Alabama Watercolor Society Exhibition at the Birmingham Museum of Art; and the "In Indiana" series at the Indianapolis Museum of Art.

Two large-scale commissions in the city of Indianapolis are testament to the relevance and scope of his ideas, and his ability to present them in a meaningful context within their communities: In 2006, Torluemke was commissioned to create two 1,000-square-foot terrazzo floor designs for the redesigned Indianapolis International Airport, which opened in 2008.  Torluemke's epic mural at the main branch of the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library, reviving a rich tradition in the spirit of the public works projects of Thomas Hart Benton, was unveiled in April 2009 in the Nina Mason Pulliam Special Collections Room on the sixth floorof the Central Library.

Looking outward and inward in tandem, Torluemke's work transcends boundaries of race, class and gender, as he makes art as a collaborator in the diverse communities of Indiana and Chicago's steel belt, while his individual work often directly faces personal concerns, including issues of sexuality in all its complexity. "I try not to concern myself with categories, descriptions or rules when viewing or making visual art," Torluemke says. "I feel this makes the work honest, flexible and hopefully fuller."

Julianna Thibodeaux, June 2009

 

VISIT Tom's Blog - Torluemke's Daily Punch
For this blog, he takes his impressions and ideas about our society and politics and makes them into simple but powerful statements using acrylic paint on paper.

Start your collection of Tom Torluemke catalogues today! These three 40-page catalogues contain images of some of Tom's most exciting work complete with essays by Michael Bulka, Tony Fitzpatrick, Kevin Freitas, Paul Klein, Julianna Thibodeaux and more. (click on the image to go to the bookstore.)

 

 

Most artworks on this site are available for sale. Please email inquiries or questions directly to the artist at tom@tomtorluemke.com.

 

 

Tom in his studios & on location

Tom speaking at the dedication of his sculpture installation Reaching For The Stars at Purdue University Calumet, Hammond, IN

 

Tom and Gregory Knight, Curator from the Chicago Cultural Center, April, 2009

 

Tom in his studio, Fall, 2009

 

 

Afterglow Opening, Chicago Cultural Center

 

Tom paints while fellow artist/friend Dolan Geiman attempts to catch a fish.

 

Tom on Torluemke Peninsula climbing a tree.

 

 

Tom (center) with Chris (left) and Ann Stack patrons of the
Indianapolis Central Library Mural at the Mural Dedication, April 24, 2009.

 

 

At the reception for Tom's Sordid Sheets Exhibit at Indiana University Northwest.

 

New Years Day, 2009 Uncle Freddy's Polar Bear Club.

 

 

Tom in front of "Teaching the Young to Fly" mural in Terre Haute.

 

Tom speaks with reporters at a press conference at the New Indianapolis
Airport, February 14, 2008.

 

 

Craftsmen from Santarossa Mosaic & Tile, Indianapolis making A Work of Heart.

 

 

Tom draws The Glory of Sports terrazzo floor design to scale (40 x 40').
This process takes several days of drawing on his hands and knees or stooped
over as pictured above.

 

 

Tom and his high school art teacher and mentor, William Quast
on a recent visit from Canada. Tom still looks up to him.

 

 

Students at Western Michigan University visiting the exhibit The Inland See:
Contemporary Art Around Lake Michigan, curated by James Yood

 

Bishop Dale J. Melczek speaks at the Dedication of Tom's mosaic at Andrean High School.

 

 

A large crowd gathered at the dedication on Thursday, August 16, 2007.

 

 

Tom visits the Indianapolis Airport where he will be installing 2 terrazzo
floor designs in late 2007.

 

 

 

 

 

Tom Torluemke in his Hammond, IN studio.

 

 

Tom Torluemke in his Highland, IN studio.

 

 

MISSING PAINTINGS
The two paintings below are missing and suspected as stolen. If you have any information regarding the location of the these works, please contact Detective John Murks at the Hammond police department. 219/852-2906

Hide & Seek, 1999
71 1/4" x 133 3/4"
sign enamel on canvas (stretched)

Between Two People, 2008
5 1/2' x 8 '
oil on canvas (stretched)