The beauty of Tom Bund’s art lies in its versatility. Like a chameleon, his vision changes in colour and mood according to the different sources of inspiration.

A visit to Seville, for example, prompted a series of 10 vibrant paintings of Spanish flamenco dancers that demonstrate a mastery of brushwork, colour, composition and knowledge of the human figure.
On the other hand, he is a storyteller, recording on canvas incidents seen around him in the village where he lives in Portugal and elsewhere, the narrative often laced with wit and humour and sometimes a touch of melancholy.

In one picture a man is portrayed white-washing his house while his voluptuous daughter stands in the doorway and is being ogled by one of the village characters passing on a motorcycle. Her admirer becomes so distracted he slows down and  puts his foot straight into the white-wash bucket. Another painting shows a retired fisherman of giant build and large hands who, incongruously, took up the delicate practice of embroidery to ease his mourning over the death of his mother.

On a different note are preliminary sketches of jazz musicians propped on easels in Tom’s studio in preparation for 15 paintings to be sent to an art gallery in New Orleans, USA. The idea came out of the blue and by an uncanny coincidence he later received an email from the gallery owner who had seen his website. There are also landscape studies which he describes as ‘therapy’ paintings which help to re-charge his creative energies in between other projects.

Tom, aged 66, enjoyed a long and successful career as a creative director in the world of advertising before turning to full-time painting. He said: “One thing I try to avoid as an artist is to have a style. It would bore me stiff.” He attributes his changeable approach to his days in advertising where there was a vital need to develop a  creative dynamic to suit the product. “If you have a product and a certain target group you select a certain tone of voice and manner of approach. So, as a fine artist, if I painted a picture of Mozart I wouldn’t do it the same way as a painting of the musician Jimmy Hendrix. It isn’t that I am painting for people. I am painting for the subject.”

“I find Portugal incredibly interesting because a lot of the imagery of everyday life in some areas is almost like a Brueghel painting from the 16th century. If you live among the Portuguese you can’t stop watching them. I am absolutely fascinated by them and that is why I paint stories a lot. Humour comes into some of them but I never paint caricatures.”

Born in Germany, Tom studied fine art, creative design, photography and film-making at the Berlin Academy and then embarked on a career in advertising that took him to several parts of the world. He came to Portugal in 1979 and settled in Estoril, later moving to the village of Azoia where his ‘eagles nest’, a charming old hilltop farmhouse with attached studio, overlooks the Atlantic. There, he teaches four days a week and paints the rest of the time. His English wife Christine is also an artist.

Art and music have been integral to Tom’s family life. His father Heribert Bund made a good living by painting expert copies on hardboard of  the great master painters Rembrandt and Vermeer and he lived to the age of  92. “I remember he once did about 12 paintings of the famous man with the golden helmet by Rembrandt and sold them all,” said Tom. “I have always painted and apart from my father my two brothers and my eldest sister and my own three children are in art. Tom once played the tuba in a jazz band during his student days and on his father’s side of the family are a number of musicians and composers.

His work has been exhibited widely including the galleries run by Arte Algarve and he participates at he second art fair ARTE ALGARVE from 29th of November till 1st of December this year.