Meet Tom Dunn | Painter and animator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Tom Dunn and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Tom, how do you think about risk?
I think risk-taking has shaped both my creative process and my life choices. There’s always been an element of embracing the random, and there’s more risk in the unknown. I rarely start a painting with a clear idea of what I’m aiming for—and in life, it definitely feels like I’m winging it sometimes.
I’ve moved around a lot in my adult life and worked a wide range of jobs while making art. Right now, I sell fish at a market. I’ve also worked on a fishing and crabbing boat, though I’m better suited to land. Even my decision to apply for an MFA at the University of California came from a chance encounter with someone from the program. I’m not sure if these things qualify as risk, but I definitely have an openness to uncertain outcomes.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I began painting about 20 years ago and in recent years I’ve been making animation. My paintings are expressionistic and surreal, drawing heavily from the subconscious. The process is improvised—images emerge, get painted over, and evolve. Looking back at process photos of my paintings, I realized I wanted to show the transformation itself—not just the final image. Animation became a way to explore how figures morph and shift over time.
The other reason I got into animation was more circumstantial. During the pandemic, while I was doing my MFA at UCSB, we temporarily lost access to our studios, so I started painting in my car. I began a series of black-and-white works on paper, and when the studios reopened, instead of returning to large-scale oil paintings, I continued the series and turned it into an animation. Now I draw on an iPad and use my Prius as an animation studio.
My current project is a digital animation based on Auguste Rodin’s Gates of Hell sculpture. I photographed the Gates of Hell sculpture at Stanford University and began digitally drawing over them. I’ve been doing drawings of drawings, experimenting with loops and trying to create a visual feedback loop.
I’ve also been experimenting with zoetropes—animations frames in circles that animate when spun.
I’ll be showing it in the Darkroom at Torrance Art Museum in March. I’m currently editing a version for the opening and closing credits of the upcoming horror film Parallel of Dreams, directed by Savannah Rae and releasing in select theaters on June 12, 2025.

Gates of Hell is an ongoing project that I see evolving through new technologies and collaborations. I’m interested in expanding the drawn figures into 3D virtual space and eventually creating physical zoetrope sculptures using 3D modeling and printing. I’ve been researching black holes, CERN’s particle collider, AI and mythologies of “hell portals,” though I’m not yet sure how it will all come together.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Before coming to LA, I spent a lot of time imagining the city while reading James Ellroy’s crime novels. He wrote an article called The Great Wrong Place that was a sort of love letter to Los Angeles and I brought it with me when I moved here. One of my favorite bookstores is Skylight Books on North Vermont Ave and I saw James Ellroy give a reading and Q&A there.
Having visitors from out of town is a good excuse to hit the touristy spots locals like to avoid. Grauman’s Chinese Theater (now TCL) is a favorite place of mine, I used to work out the front of the theater as a hotdog vender.
A sentimental favorite is the Music Box Steps, where Laurel and Hardy filmed the scene of hauling a piano up a long outdoor staircase. I’ve been there multiple times with my parents when they visited and we even paid our respects at the graves of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy.
Other favorites include The Comedy Store (haunted), the Rainbow Bar & Grill, Hollywood Forever Cemetery and the Museum of Death.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would like to give a shout out to the painter Steve Cox. Steve was my art teacher in Melbourne, Australia and remains one of my favorite artists, as well as a mentor and friend. He introduced me to Kenneth Anger’s infamous Hollywood Babylon, which sparked my fascination with Los Angeles.

Website: https://www.tomdunnart.com

Instagram: @tomdunnart

Image Credits
Francesca Bifulco image credit for the photo of me.