Kaboom
1993
"Kaboom" by Fred Tomaselli is a visually explosive work that embeds actual hemp leaves beneath layers of glossy resin, creating a luminous, jewel-like surface that blurs the boundary between painting and object. The organic plant material is arranged in dynamic, radiating patterns that evoke both cosmic detonation and psychedelic vision, amplified by Tomaselli's signature use of vivid acrylic color. The encasing resin preserves and transforms the natural elements into something otherworldly, inviting the viewer to contemplate the tension between the raw and the synthetic.
- Medium
- hemp leaves, acrylic and resin on wood
- Location
- Phillips, Salt Lake City, UT
- Spotted At
- Auction House · PhillipsView on map
🔨 Auction Lot
20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale
November 17, 2016
Artists in conversation
Damien Hirst
British · b. 1965
Hirst similarly encases organic and found materials within resin and glossy surfaces, as seen in his natural history works and spin paintings, creating jewel-like objects that blur the boundary between painting and sculpture with vibrant, psychedelic energy.
Mark Grotjahn
American · b. 1968
Grotjahn's radiating concentric compositions share the dynamic explosive geometry and vivid acrylic color fields found in Kaboom, creating works with a similar sense of cosmic detonation and optical intensity on panel surfaces.
Walton Ford
American · b. 1960
Ford integrates actual natural specimens and organic imagery into richly layered compositions with a psychedelic surrealist influence, sharing Tomaselli's fascination with embedding raw natural material into visually overwhelming and otherworldly pictorial spaces.
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