Check Out Tumnus Rex’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tumnus Rex.

Hi Tumnus , it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
In high school, my favorite subjects were art and physics. When it was time to go off to college, I decided to pursue a degree in astrophysics. While I was introduced to many things that expanded my horizons during a year at a liberal arts college, I realized that doing calculus every day was not what had originally captured me about astronomy. I was drawn to the otherworldy perspective that studying the stars granted. I was drawn to the romance of gazing upwards in a wide open field late at night and the beauty of weaving constellating stories out of stars.

While grappling with the dead-end conclusions of my empirical path, I found myself craving a meaning to life that I had no idea how to attain. I was a neurotic insomniac with deep existential and nihilistic dread. It was clear that I was unable to succeed in school, so I dropped out and attempted to reassess my options and recenter myself.

While I was no longer an enrolled student, my time at college had introduced me to two things that proved critical to my stabilization and sense of purpose: Philosophy and Psychedelics. I began my self-education with these tools, learning the thoughts and wisdoms of a plethora of people and cultures and synthesizing them through embodied, psychedelic experience. I established a sense of meaning and faith that my previously exclusively empirical framework had lacked. Specifically, many wisdoms of Buddhism, Hinduism and Taoism were critical in assuaging the existential dread that had crippled me for so long.

During this time I also began to take art classes at my community college. Here, I was reminded how fulfilling it was to work with my hands…. I decided that I would pursue a path that I crafted myself. Through my time at Lorain County Community College, I encountered many wonderful educators who were affiliated with the Cleveland Institute of Art. I decided to make the leap, apply and eventually attend CIA.

Through my education at CIA I became an excellent craftsperson, artist and communicator. I began to develop an aesthetic language to describe my worldview and philosophies. My studio practice existed as a series of experiments where telescopes transformed into kaleidoscopes and I played with lights, magnets, mirrors and pendulums. I began to understand myself as an installation artist: much of my work was interactive or reflective and none of it was complete until it was activated by the unique presence and perspective of the viewer.

During my development at CIA I realized that it’s my ultimate mission as an artist to reconcile science and spirituality. Through my art practice, I leverage the aesthetics, language and laws of physics to inspire embodied awe, reflection and meditation as I quest to re-enchant the world.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Growing up, I rejected all forms of spirituality and anything that could not be empirically proven. I stood by this worldview until my father began having life-threatening health complications and I started to wonder about questions that science had no answers for: What happens after you die? What does it mean to live a good life? What do I deem as right/wrong and why? As a naturally empirically minded person, it was very difficult to grapple with these questions that have no clear answer. It took much time, effort and anguish until I was able to graft a sense of meaning and spirituality into my scientific understanding of the world.

During my time at CIA, I often recognized my scientific tendencies and aesthetics to be unappealing to my creative peers. Many of my fellow artists had sought to escape the rigidity of mathematics and science when they decided to dedicate themselves to the creative path. As a result, I was often very discouraged and frustrated with the lack of enthusiasm that much of my work received. It seemed as though very few people around me responded to the themes of science and spirituality that so heavily inspired my expressions. It took me a long time to become confident in my own work (as we are so often our biggest critics) and to find the right people to give me the feedback I needed, as well as the right audiences who responded with enthusiasm to my work.

I believe that an intrinsic part of being a creative is an elevated sensitivity towards the world. For me, this has always meant that I am very aware of and attuned to imbalances and injustices. Graduating high school in 2017, my adult life has been filled with political turmoil, economic despair, a global pandemic and looming climate disaster. All of this anxiety is amplified to an unprecedented degree through social media.

At times it can feel like the art I make and the work I do are insufficient and ineffective. That I’m not doing enough, that I might need to become a soldier to fight for what I believe in. But I have come to realize that the most helpful and radical thing we can do as individuals is to live as authentically as possible, with as much kindness and care for those around us as we can muster. It has been a truly incredible effort and privilege to shape my path in this world in such an authentic and meaningful way. I am grateful for this life as an artist, with all of the sensitivities and ups and downs that it brings.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
All of my works are concerned with perception, time, spacial depth, transformation and connection. My creations are convergences of energy:

Kaleidoscopes that produce incredibly detailed geometric displays through simple, multiplicative interactions of light and mirrors.

Collections of poetry that rhythmically weave symbolism through fractured specificities, vivid abstractions and resonant metaphors.

Installations that entice the attention of viewers, encourage play and exploration, defy conventional viewing, facilitating instead, mindful and embodied participation as a critical component of the work.

Like fractals whose smallest intricacies mirror their most basic structures- I expand the patterns of refracting energies within my individual works into constellating interactions within my larger installations. Each sculpture and installation element functions like any particular detail within an abstract painting, moving the viewer through the composition and describing meaning through harmony, juxtaposition, repetition, depth and impactful focal points.

Furthermore, my installations each become a node of effort, beauty and achievement that reference and inform each other across my body of work and through time. Creating a networking constellation of kaleidoscopic art.

I am always striving to be like one of my kaleidoscopes: capable of transforming any situation or piece of information into a beautiful and intricate display of colorful patterns. I do this the same way as my sculptures, by interfacing brightness with transparency, structure, reflection and connection.

What matters most to you?
Connection is very important to me. I love learning about the world- making connections, drawing comparisons and recognizing patterns.

I love connecting with people! Sharing the world with others is what makes being human possible and valuable. Conversations, collaborations and community are some of the most inspiring things in my life!

I love bringing things together… joining materials, building sculptures, facilitating group experiences, making playlists… There’s something so beautiful to me about connection and curation.

Movement is also very important to me. Moving my body through dance, exercise and yoga is critical for my wellness and happiness. Recognizing the movement, flow and change in all things has been incredibly meaningful to me and helps me get through hard times or moments of doubt and pain.

I love experiencing art and music that moves me emotionally and I try to create dynamic works that can move others!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Tumnusrex.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tumnusrex/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwAihtUQsqRJh8JGxgzUIAw