16: 27 . ” I do not see myself painting reality as it already exists. Instead, I prefer to paint my vision of what could exist. Because I feel that photography for example already captures perfect representations of people, scenes, landscapes even.
When I paint, I have a vision in my mind and I try to re-create it. ”

Tomas works as a parliamentary assistant at the European Parliament and is also a painter.

“I believe art and politics are strongly intertwined. The first thing that came to my mind when I started working at the European Parliament, was that there are paintings everywhere. Plus, the Parliament organises art exhibitions to celebrate the art and culture of each EU member state. It seems that politicians have for long acknowledged the importance of art in our daily lives.

– I like all types of arts. In fact, at the beginning, I wanted to do movie making. But it was pretty expensive. (He laughs)
I even put music on when I paint, because in movies you generally have a soundtrack throughout the whole movie that sets the tone. When I listen to music and paint at the same time, it allows me to feel certain emotions and be more inspired according to the theme I want to portray.
– Fortunately, in our modern world there is more room for artists to mix techniques and free themselves from boundaries. This is also the reason why modern art as we see it is becoming more and more popular. Because it helps people express and see things in a different way. Artists do not longer have to respect technical norms in order to be valued. Actually, more and more artists manage to distance themselves from societal boundaries in order express themselves freely. This is why I love art – it allows me to think outside the box. Artists takes bits and pieces of objects or subjects and uses those to re-create something.
Perhaps certain politicians should try this approach more often.”