Joey Tomassoni

Controversial Artist with a Message

Tomassoni is a young, yet already internationally known, contemporary artist who lives in the Washington D.C. area. He has a BA in Fine Art, Art Education and Spanish. Called a prodigy, Tomassoni has exhibited work in special exhibits, galleries and churches across the country. He just received his MFA in painting from American University (where he spent some of this time studying in Italy.) In the summer of 2005, he had an apprenticeship with Japanese-American artist and National Endowment of the Arts council member, Makoto Fujimura. He’s pursued artistic projects in other countries including London, Paris, Uruguay, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Honduras.

Tomassoni is known for his controversial exhibits, including his "September 11" series. This series consists of paintings combining the events from 9/11 with different verses from the Bible that were chosen for the chapter and verse number of 9 and 11. Tomassoni breaks the rules and does things in unconventional ways. He has even been known to set his artwork on fire for impact. And by doing this he’s had an impact on the communities he’s come in contact with.

Tomassoni, who has been called the "art missionary", is also known in parts of the world for his continued leadership and awe inspiring murals of "The Western Walls Project." The goal of this project is to not only bring care packages to those who are less fortunate; but also to paint a divinely inspired mural in every country in the Western Hemisphere.

Tomassoni: “You’ve heard of art for art’s sake? Well, my take on that is art for others’ sake. Those two views right there sum it up. Art for no intentional reason, to make no intentional impact, to advance intentionally in no way, or art with an intentional purpose, intentionally to help people, art to serve people, art to encourage people, art to make people think and to stretch people out. The second is my view.”