<<< Bill Toma >>>

Bill Toma finally realized his dream of becoming a full time artist while persuing a teaching career at Long Beach City College, having gained a English MA in 1961. He started sculpting and working with metal during the early 1970's. Since this turning point, he has become an internationally known and collectible artist whose collectors include Stevie Nicks, Heather Locklear and Alice Cooper. When asked about his work, Bill Toma states that he greatly enjoys having his work speak symbolically to its viewers, no doubt a carry over from his literary background.

Symbolism can, indeed, be profound, which is the case with the "Gift of Love" depicting a lovely nude sitting atop a pedestal offering a blossoming red rose. The rose is an object of beauty, delicacy and fragrance; yet, it possesses thorns. The opening of the rose is representative of having to open ourselves in order to experience love, thereby becoming vulnerable. The thorns are symbolic of the possibility of being hurt while in the vulnerable state of love. Though the jester's gloves are an attempt to avoid the path of love, once in love, anyone can be made the fool.

Such is the work of Bill Toma, one of the most innovative and popular sculptors in the world today. So extraordinarily detailed and exquisitely finished are Bill Toma's works that he has been under exclusive contract with Walt Disney World, Disneyland and The Walt Disney Company since 1980. Bill Toma has been creating and producing Disney characters in limited editions.

Bill Toma's creations represent a vast and unique repertoire of his personal interests. Not limiting himself to one genre, Bill Toma pursues a variety of subject matter which includes a series of Wildlife, Nudes, Renaissance Harlequins and most recently, Fantasy Art. Bill Toma states, "My fascination with fantasy art results from the complete imaginative freedom it offers. It allows us to travel to realms beyond, to realms of an alternative reality where anything is possible, to realms that offer the substance of our dreams, to realms that fire the imagination." The title "To Paint a Face" was taken from T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," the sculpture shows a Harlequin preparing to create a persona appropriate for that day. Bill Toma's work captures a flight of fancy, freezes the imagination's most soaring dream, and brings it to terra firma for our pleasure and admiration.



Biography
Bill Toma finally realized his dream of becoming a full time artist while persuing a teaching career at Long Beach City College, having gained a English MA in 1961. He started sculpting and working with metal during the early 1970's. Since this turning point, he has become an internationally known and collectible artist whose collectors include Stevie Nicks, Heather Locklear and Alice Cooper. When asked about his work, Bill Toma states that he greatly enjoys having his work speak symbolically to its viewers, no doubt a carry over from his literary background. Symbolism can, indeed, be profound, which is the case with the "Gift of Love" depicting a lovely nude sitting atop a pedestal offering a blossoming red rose. The rose is an object of beauty, delicacy and fragrance; yet, it possesses thorns. The opening of the rose is representative of having to open ourselves in order to experience love, thereby becoming vulnerable. The thorns are symbolic of the possibility of being hurt while in the vulnerable state of love. Though the jester's gloves are an attempt to avoid the path of love, once in love, anyone can be made the fool. Such is the work of Bill Toma, one of the most innovative and popular sculptors in the world today. So extraordinarily detailed and exquisitely finished are Bill Toma's works that he has been under exclusive contract with Walt Disney World, Disneyland and The Walt Disney Company since 1980. Bill Toma has been creating and producing Disney characters in limited editions. Bill Toma's creations represent a vast and unique repertoire of his personal interests. Not limiting himself to one genre, Bill Toma pursues a variety of subject matter which includes a series of Wildlife, Nudes, Renaissance Harlequins and most recently, Fantasy Art. Bill Toma states, "My fascination with fantasy art results from the complete imaginative freedom it offers. It allows us to travel to realms beyond, to realms of an alternative reality where anything is possible, to realms that offer the substance of our dreams, to realms that fire the imagination." The title "To Paint a Face" was taken from T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," the sculpture shows a Harlequin preparing to create a persona appropriate for that day. Bill Toma's work captures a flight of fancy, freezes the imagination's most soaring dream, and brings it to terra firma for our pleasure and admiration.


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