THOMAS DELLERT | The American Neon Night

THOMAS DELLERT | The American Neon Night

Thomas Dellert, also known as ‘Thomas Dellacroix’ and ‘Tommy Dollar’, a given name by the American Pop artist Andy Warhol in New York in 1980, when Thomas did some hand-printed silkscreens for Warhol.
Thomas (born on July 12, 1953) is a Swedish multimedia artist, photographer, painter, actor, singer, songwriter, poet, filmmaker, director, fashion designer, theatre set designer, and interior decorator.

The American Neon Night’ project expresses the true colors of New York and Miami, which I have been in love with since my first visit to New York in 1968. I have returned TO NYC many times until I finally decided to live there. My years in Manhattan are some of the best in my life. I was especially fascinated by what is called “Americana .”Typical American places like Diners Cocktails Bars and Skyscrapers lit up by night.
I love the Neon lights of Broadway and the lit-up Ocean Drive of Miami. They all have this specific magic you hardly find anywhere else in the world. Believe me, I lived and worked for many years in cities like Paris, London, Venice, Berlin, and now Florence, my new home, which is extremely beautiful in an old antique way. But the Cinematic metallic night lights of Miami and Manhattan are can only be found in the states, where the neon is reflected in the lacquer of the large American cars and in the rain-covered asphalt. To walk along an avenue at night in Manhattan is like taking part in
a colorful movie.

THOMAS DELLERT

Dellert worked, inspired, and photographed eventful times with Jimi Hendrix, The Sex Pistols, Jean Michel Basquiat, and Andy Warhol, among hundreds of legends and historical icons he has met and socialized with through his life.
From Movie stars to Rock stars, Royalties and Presidents to villens. Jean Michel Basquiat got inspired by Dellert to do his frames with ropes,
a style he is today remembered for. Warhol got his colorful Camouflage idea from Dellert in 1980 and gave him the nickname Tommy Dollar because the young Swede could not hide his fascination for the American way of life in NY. Then he moved to London, more precisely to Chelsea. It was there that Dellert became one of the original London Punk Rockers and took part in the early development of this anarchistic and dada-inspired movement with Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood.
After Sid Vicious accidentally almost killed him with a knife in Paris, Dellert brought punk to Sweden and opened the Suicide punk art gallery in one of his drug-infused moments.
Dellert’s work is presented in prestigious collections such as the Absolut Vodka Collection, the Heinz Collection, or the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Dellert has also been the official artist for Mercedes Benz and, in 2020, was chosen for the BLM Art Collection.
Dellert’s art is not a nostalgic reprise. He lives and breathes in the now, without the tiresome attempt to defend an inheritance. His art is often breathtakingly strong in context and always fights for humanity and against all kinds of violence, war, and totalitarian thinking. His tools are usually “Satirical” in form, and he uses the history of art isms as one of the colors on his palette.
Nowadays, Dellert works with media like Photography, Painting, Installation, Video, Collage with objects, and art prints. But he is also working with music, stage performance, songwriting, acting, directing, and fashion design.

See the full article in Lens Magazine Issue #89