TJ Volonis
American, 1977
TJ Volonis received a BA in Japanese Studies from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. After graduating, he moved to Brooklyn and has been a resident of the borough for the last 16 years.
A self-taught artist, TJ entered one of his earliest pieces (Chair, #2) in the 2005 GLAAD OUTAuction where he won the award for Best Emerging Artist – Mixed Media. That same chair also appeared in the May 2012 edition of Elle Décor Magazine. He continued his work with copper by making tables, chairs, and other functional works of art. In 2008 his work expanded into a series of wall-mounted sculptures. Further experimentation and serendipity fueled his interest and skill in learning and executing the ancient Japanese technique of kintsugi which he has incorporated into his artistic practice.
TJ’s creative work, at its core, is about revealing the unseen and reimagining it in new ways. It also incorporates a wide variety of themes including: human biological processes, the natural world and man’s relationship to it, hidden systems, technology and contemporary culture, and the implicit balance between order and chaos, among others. He views his work as a collaboration between the material with its limitations and his own intentions.
His work has appeared in: Architectural Digest, The New York Observer, LUXE Interiors + Design, Wallpaper* Magazine, Elle Décor, Lonny Magazine, American Craft, Freshome, Core 77, Design Milk, Artsicle, Black Lines of Design, Gotham Gazette, Examiner.com, and the Brooklyn Paper. In 2013 he showed work at ICFF in New York City, and in 2014 he showed at BKLYN DESIGNS. He was selected as one of NYC’s top emerging artists in 2011 and 2013 and was the 2005 Best Emerging Artist in Mixed Media at the GLAAD OUTAuction. His most recent large exhibition was in 2016 at the Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art—a Smithsonian-affiliated museum.
