Thomas is a self-taught painter, sculpture, photographer, and filmmaker who splits his time between his stuff making studio in Bonny Doon, CA and traversing the globe making films. His artworks combine scribbles and scriptures, taking slogans and anecdotes from his unique vocabulary and juxtaposing them with a profound look at human nature. His movement-oriented paintings are as layered with meaning as they are with paint. The works, typically composed of several panels, are free-flowing with wide expressionist swipes of color, bold graphics and intricate renderings of characters and text. His photographs mimic the intensity of the paintings, yet in a more abstract fashion.
Campbell has mounted solo exhibitions in New York, Paris, Tokyo, Denmark, The Netherlands, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Morocco. In 1999, he completed his first feature length surfing film, The Seedling, and in 2004 released his second, Sprout and his third “The Present” in the spring of 2009.
Thomas is also part owner and creative director for a small, independent record label based in Santa Cruz, CA, Galaxia, which has released records by contemporary artists such as Tommy Guerrero, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Peggy Honeywell and The Black Heart Procession. Galaxia was established in 1993. In 2013 Campbell started an new creative platform called UM YEAH ARTS which is a nexus for the making of books and music.
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