Tomás Pichardo Espaillat, a “Moving Art”

Apr 3

Tomás Pichardo Espaillat, a.k.a. “Tomatico”, is a visual artist and storyteller from the Dominican Republic better known for his work as an animator and illustrator. Although his name might not come immediately to mind, you probably have come across his work at some point, for it is ubiquitous on the internet. Born in 1987 in Santo Domingo, this Altos de Chavón (Dominican Republic), Parsons Schools of Design (New York) graduate, and Fábrica Communication and Research Centre (Italy) research fellow, is one of the main Dominican creatives conspicuously participating on the global stage.

Among other projects, Tomás is presently Animation Director for TED-ED, the TED’s platform youth and education initiative whose original content, an ever-growing library of animations, aims at providing resources for teachers to create interactive lesson plans. He is also Animation Director at Alain De Botton’s The School Of Life, the world renowned project that describes itself as an “organisation built to help us find calm, self-understanding, resilience and connection - especially during troubled times”. It curates content, such as books, products and lessons, around these themes, which include animated shorts that work as visual support for the elucidation of these ideas. Furthermore, he is Animation Professor at the Fine Art Department of the Altos de Chavon School of Design.

Evoking the surreal experience of growing up in the Caribbean, Pichardo sees his work as magical-realism with a personal and intimate feel, where characters full of colours and textures are drawn into situations outside of their comfort zone.

His animations have been official selections of festivals in Italy, France, Japan, Germany, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, United States of America, Cuba, among others. He has exhibited in collective and individual expos in Dominican Republic, Mexico and Italy. His work Asterisco (2020), an audiovisual autobiographical piece, created with a mix of techniques and elements that included stop motion, digital animation, ambience sounds and even 16mm film footage, was an official selection of the 28th Eduardo León Jimenes art prize. More recently, his short film animation Las Mariposas: How three sisters defied a dictator, about the Mirabal Sister’s fierce opposition to the dictatorship ruling our country from 1930-1961, which consequently led to their murder, was selected as a nominee for the Quirino Awards of Ibero-American Animations 2022.

Although this entry has focussed on his work as animator, Cardboard-Humans, his ongoing series of drawings and sculptures made out of cardboard, is another proposal definitely worth taking a look at. It has been exhibited in Berlin, Lisbon, Ecuador and Santo Domingo. “The series takes its cues from a personal stance, yet each piece illustrates universal questions and feelings about love, loneliness, war, and many other aspects that makes us human” writes Tomás.

We invite you to explore Tomatico’s work with this selection of his animations and images from his Cardboard-Humans series.