Commissions

Tom Sanford 2020-21, Acrylic and fake gold on canvas, 64” 84”. This is a painting that Brett and I had been talking about doing for almost a decade and during the Pandemic year it finally happened. It’s of Brett and a few of his friends, several of them are pretty recognizable types. The idea came from the original Ocean’s 11 poster of the guys around a pool table, although my version ends up suggesting a Fra Angelica style, pre perspectival space. I do hope I get to see it in person installed in the pool room at the Hilhaven Lodge someday.

This double portrait was commissioned by a mutual friend to celebrate the NY art dealing couple’s anniversary. In the picture Sanford depicts Marc Wehby as he is typically seen, on the telephone as Susie looks on. In the background we see work by Nina Chanel Abney, one of several artists that the couple discovered. A lesser known fact is that the gallery once was kind enough to host a Sanford exhibition, “Cafe des Artists” in 2013.

This Icon painting was made for Berlinetta, a brew pub established in 2021 by the Ruggiero Brothers, Christian and Rich. Christian, a long time friend of Sanford’s may have introduced the artist to his long suffering wife, and it is suspected that artist felt he owed his old friend a favor. He may also have been working under the assumption that there was an obscene amount of Rich Ruggiero’s incredible Czech inspired beers to be gained. Whatever the case, Sanford depicts John Ratzenberger (a Bridgeport native) as the fictional postman, Cliff Clavin, from 1980s sitcom Cheers! as the Patron Saint of beers. The painting heavily references Bridgeport related iconography. Circus elephants stand in for PT Barnum, a mandala made from the Bridgeport city seal, a Remington riffle, monk parquets, and the Bridgeport waterfront.

Tom Sanford 2017. Acrylic on Canvas. Sanford considers this small still life painting of a fifth of Evan Williams bourbon and a tall boy Narragansett Lager (gifts from proprietor Andrew Castelli to the artist on the event of his 2017 “99 Bottles of Beer” exhibition at Gitler & Gallery) possibly the most fruitful use of his talents to date. He was able to exchange it for a seemingly inexhaustible tab at The Uptown Bourbon Bar in West Harlem. Sanford’s preferred watering hole and fountain of artistic inspiration. Not only has the painter wasted away countless hours at the bar, but several of his best paintings, which are usually of goings ons at bars, are set in this humble, whiskey soaked, dive bar. Many of his artist pals and local friends and degenerates have dine out on the generosity of bar owners and now dear friends of the artist, Andrew Castelli & Elena Dávila.

Tom Sanford 2018. Acrylic and Gold leaf on Wood. This painting was commissioned by the owner of Upper East Side ice cream parlor/speak easy “UES” by Cortney Bond. It pictures Cortney’s five Upper East Side favorites: Jackie Onassis, Vera Wang, John D. Rockafeller, Martin Scorsese, and Chris “Biggie Smalls” Wallace (Biggie is a bit of a stretch, but the artist was on board with Ms. Bond’s vision). In any case, the picture hangs in UES’s secret back room bar and is notable as perhaps Sanford’s most instagrammed picture.