Tom Lohre in the News

Do you miss it: This photo of a painting by Clifton artist Tom Lohre of Cinergy Field, the Suspension Bridge and the Ohio River is available at Cinergy Field.

Review by Owen Findsen, art critic for the Cincinnati Enquirer, 1980

" the individualists and adventurers like Lohre may be the artists to watch"
"Figurative portrait painting is no longer taught in most art schools. Lohre, who studied advertising in college, has been studying painting the way artists studied in the 19th century. He sets up his canvas in an museums and copies paintings by the masters. 'I started copying paintings at the Cincinnati An Museum. After I moved to New York I painted at the Metropolitan.'
To learn his trade, Lohre seeks out artists and asks their advice. 'I learned a lot about painting portraits from celebrity artist Ralph Wolf Cowan.'
Lohre started painting portraits when he noticed some of the people in the paintings at the Met resembled people he knew. 'I'o paint a Van Dyke and put in a new face.' The device was a good publicity stunt, but not very lucrative. 'People want an original painting, so I staned painting people posed in their favorite fantasy.'
Lohre is also interested in painting landscape, but only when there is something significant happening. He found a way to get press credentials for the launch of the space shuttle. Before Mount St. Helens erupted he contrived a way to be present to paint the mountain.
Lohre is learning his art the hard way, by traveling, searching and working, without the aid of academy or apprentice
system. In an age when most artists are products of master programs at universities, all reflecting the current academic dogmas of contemporary an, the individualists and adventurers like Lohre may be the artists to watch."
Owen Flndsen, Art Critic for The Cincinnati Enquirer