TOM MAZZULLO

ZOOLOGY

I’ve made more drawings of zoological specimens in metalpoint than of almost any other subject. The very first artwork I made after moving to Ithaca, NY after graduate school was a drawing of an ant I found in Dewitt Park. I love the challenge of taking a complex subject, placing it in front of me, and producing not only an accurate, life-size representation of the specimen, but also an artwork that has the grace and subtlety of a finished silverpoint drawing. More than illustration, I’m trying to make expressive art, internalizing the subject and making a drawing that respects the specimen as a (once) living thing. 

I’ve been working from specimens I own, as well as from mounts at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, and the CU Boulder Zoological Collection, with appreciation to both institutions. Two series of zoological works were exhibited at Spark Gallery as Zoology in 2015 and as Infestation in 2019. The most recent exhibit was Sometimes I Draw Birds at Pirate Contemporary in May 2022.