Tom Carapic (born 1939), full name Tomislav Sava Čarapić, is an artist who specialises in found object artwork. Carapic was born in Velisevac, Serbia (then Kingdom of Yugoslavia). He was educated at a military school in

Herzegovina Herzegovina ( or ; sh-Latn-Cyrl, Hercegovina, separator=" / ", Херцеговина, ) is the southern and smaller of two main geographical region of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being Bosnia. It has never had strictly defined geogra ...

in the 1950s, and served as a sergeant in the Yugoslav People's Army. Afterwards he was denied a college education, possibly because he was not a member of the Communist Party, and illegally crossed into Italy in 1961, and, from there, emigrated to the United States. In 1965, he began attending classes at the New York Art Students League, but dropped out soon afterwards, eventually attending the Wilfred Academy of Beauty Culture. He was unable, however, to find steady beauty parlor employment, and worked in menial labor while attending classes in Spanish Education at

Manhattan Community College The Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) is a public community college in New York City. Founded in 1963 as part of the City University of New York (CUNY) system, BMCC grants associate degrees in a wide variety of vocational, business, ...

. Due to a problem with accreditation, he was forced to switch to classes in the field of

studio art An art school is an educational institution with a primary focus on the visual arts, including fine art – especially illustration, painting, photography, sculpture, and graphic design. Art schools can offer elementary, secondary, post-seco ...

. There he experienced hallucinatory visions that explained his repeated failures to obtain a degree. In the late 1970s, Carapic began experiencing more

hallucinatory A hallucination is a perception in the absence of an external stimulus that has the qualities of a real perception. Hallucinations are vivid, substantial, and are perceived to be located in external objective space. Hallucination is a combinatio ...

visions; claiming that his degree problems were caused when "the evil marriage bureau massed the troops" against his college and proceeded with "an Air force bombardment" of the school. After receiving other visitations, he began making and showing his art. Most of his art is centered on found objects, most famously computer keyboards, especially those by IBM. Most of his art consists of these objects, marked with black Sharpie markers, and with green thumbprints and handprints along the objects. His most famous exhibit in New York City is "Big Bang Theory," a doomsday warnings painted on computer keyboards and shoes and construction debris.

External links

Dilettante Press Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carapic, Tom 1939 births Living people American people of Serbian descent Yugoslav emigrants to the United States People from Ljig