Thomas Trum’s works are made with giant felt tip pens and custom-built paint machines

Rendered with non-traditional tools – a road marking machine, a brush attached to a drill and custom paint guns that gradually change colour – Thomas Trum’s paintings are a wonder to watch in process. Creating impressions at various scales, on paper to expansive facades, the artist is “fascinated by the idea of leaving traces behind”. Thomas’ studio is a home for experimentation, and his particular exploration of colour and abstraction is trialed within “a restrictive framework that exclusively focuses on line and colour”.

Although each painting “takes extensive preparation”, Thomas tells us that their execution can “sometimes only take a matter of minutes”. The lengthy preparation for each work and the artists extensive research into new materials and techniques allows him to “continually discover new ways to create images”. As for his tools, Thomas turns to large vehicles and agricultural machinery for their ability to operate “in a rhythmic pattern” when painting. It’s no surprise that when asked what some of his main influences were, he tells us: “I find immense inspiration in the meticulous work of builders, craftsmen, and farmers — essentially, those who create and shape the world through their hands and skills. The interplay between design, technique, and the inherent creativity in these practical fields fuels my own creative vision.”

Thomas sees every painting as “an interaction between human and tool — like a choreography.” Despite his systematic set-ups, the artist’s agricultural tools and techniques result in fluid organic forms, paintings that are transparent of their human-operated process. Each piece, Thomas says, is “a movement captured in colour”.