Stephen Tompkins (born October 4, 1971, in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

) is an American artist, animator, and composer based in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

. He grew up in

Avon Lake, Ohio Avon Lake is a city in northeastern Lorain County, Ohio, United States, located on the southern shore of Lake Erie about 17 miles west of Cleveland. The population was 25,206 at the 2020 Census. It is part of the Cleveland metropolitan area. Hi ...

, near Cleveland, and graduated from

Avon Lake High School Avon Lake High School (ALHS) is a public high school located in Avon Lake, Ohio, west of Cleveland. It serves grades 9–12. It is part of the Avon Lake City School District. Academics ALHS achieved "excellent" ratings on the Ohio State Report ...

in 1990. His work is associated with the 'Hardcore' Pop

Surrealism Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

movement Tompkins' work has been exhibited in numerous galleries throughout the United States and Europe since 1997. His work was exhibited in BLK/MRKT Gallery's Artist Annual in 2007. His work has been exhibited alongside such artists as

Daniel Johnston Daniel Dale Johnston (January 22, 1961 – September 11, 2019) was an American singer, musician and artist regarded as a significant figure in outsider, lo-fi, and alternative music scenes. Most of his work consisted of cassettes recorded a ...

(in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

) in a two-man exhibit titled "The Art of Daniel Johnston and Stephen Tompkins" and

Ron English Ron English (born June 6, 1959) is an American contemporary artist who explores brand imagery, street art, and advertising. Career English has produced images on the street, in museums, in movies, books and television. He coined the term POPa ...

and Steven Hopwood-Lewis ("Melodic Inversions & Contrary Motions" exhibition in

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

). His work has appeared in publications including ''

LA Weekly ''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin, who served as president and editor until 1991. Voice Media Group sold the paper in late 2017 to Semanal Media LLC, whose paren ...

'', ''Raw Vision Magazine'', ''Monopol Magazin'', ''New American Paintings'' and ''

Juxtapoz ''Juxtapoz Art & Culture Magazine'' (pronounced ''JUX-tah-pose'') is a magazine created in 1994 by a group of artists and art collectors including Robert Williams, Fausto Vitello, C.R. Stecyk III (a.k.a. Craig Stecyk), Greg Escalante, and Eric ...

''. Some of his work was published in the book ''BLK/MRKT TWO'' by and in ''Year One Rewind'', a survey of urban and graffiti art by Last Gasp Press. His animated short, ''Gummymorph'', appears in the film ''Freak Out in Cucamonga'', a documentary about the early studio years of

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by wikt:nonconformity, nonconformity, Free improvisation, free-form improvisation, sound experimen ...

. In February 2009, he released a Digital-8 collection of 13 music videos that he directed, filmed and produced of

filmed in Johnston's hometown of

Waller, Texas Waller is a city in Texas, United States, partly in Waller County and partly in Harris County within the metropolitan area. The population was 2,682 at the 2020 U.S. census. The Waller area is located along U.S. Route 290 ( Northwest Freeway) ...

. The videos and MP3s were released as digital downloads under the name "Daniel Johnston at Home LIVE". He acted as an EMT in the

Werner Herzog Werner Herzog (; born 5 September 1942) is a German film director, screenwriter, author, actor, and opera director, regarded as a pioneer of New German Cinema. His films often feature ambitious protagonists with impossible dreams, people with un ...

film ''

My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done ''My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done'' is a 2009 crime drama film directed by Werner Herzog, and written by Herzog and Herbert Golder. The film stars Michael Shannon as Brad McCullam, a mentally unstable man who kills his own mother (played by Grace ...

''. In December 2009, he was nominated as a composer for a Maverick Movie Award in the short film category for "Best Original Score". Tompkins was nominated for the 2010 San Diego Art Prize Award by curator Robin Clark, PhD of the

Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (or MCASD), in San Diego, California, US, is an art museum focused on the collection, preservation, exhibition, and interpretation of works of art from 1950 to the present. Mission The stated mission of ...

and his work was selected to be part of the MCASD exhibit "Here Not There" which opened in June 2010. He is currently represented worldwide by Ernst Hilger Galerie in Vienna, Austria.

References

External links

Tompkins official website''Secret Still: The Interview with Stephen Tompkins''"Flavorpill Los Angeles review of Stephen Tompkins' Transmogrifications exhibit""Melodic Inversions & Contrary Motions" exhibit with Ron English & Steven-Hopwood Lewis in Dallas
1971 births Living people Artists from California American animators American animated film directors American surrealist artists Surrealist filmmakers American experimental filmmakers People from Avon Lake, Ohio Artists from Cleveland {{US-artist-stub