About the Artist: Thomas J. Dytko
Born and raised in Elk Grove Village, a suburb northwest of Chicago, Illinois. I am a product of the 50s and 60s, and I was drawing before grade school. In high school I was taught and mentored by the likes of John Doyle, James Walker, and Robert Hodge; serious artists and graduates from the Chicago Art Institute. They taught me to look and see the pile of broken
and odd shaped objects in the middle of the room, then draw or paint what I saw. I learned to turn the pile of “junk” in the middle of the room into art. I also learned to draw and paint live models, to look, see, and capture the emotions and attitude, as well as the shapes and shadows, from a model in just five minutes. I also learned and developed the techniques and skill needed to create art using various medium; graphite, charcoal, acrylic, oils, pen and ink, silk-screens, and stone lithography. In 1969 my mentors encouraged me to enter an art competition sponsored by the Chicago Art Institute with hopes to be accepted into the institute. I did well and was honored with a top award and scholarship inviting me to attend the institute. It was the highlight of my career as an artist. Unfortunately circumstances prevented me from attending the institute and I ended up in California. Instead of a career in Art I took up a career in Computer Science in Silicon Valley and raised a family. Through the years I dabbled in art, sometimes teaching others, but never took that final step to put my work, to put myself back into the public eye. Now, after 45 years I’ve decided to make that final step and re-enter the ‘art scene’. and rather than painting or drawing ‘junk’, portraits, or landscapes, where the images contain easily identifiable objects, I have found an abstract or impressionistic painting can be more interesting and diverse, shouting out a story, agitating the senses, creating a memory, or even stirring up an emotion.
