Tom Fruin was born 1974 in Los Angeles, California. He lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
His work is present in many international museums and part of collections; of particular importance are The Hanck Collection in the Museum Kunstpalast in Düsseldorf, Germany; the Richard J. Massey Foundation for Arts and Sciences in New York, NY; and the Buenos Aires Design Center (Centro Metropolitano de Diseño) in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
His works address social problem areas such as consumer and brand fetishism, alcohol and drug addiction, a passion for games, and religious jealousy (Ku-Klux-Klan). Fruin assembles his collages and installations from collected found objects such as playing cards, capsules from beer bottles, empty drug bags, Plexiglas, etc. His works appear irritating and attractive at the same time and, despite the difficult subject matter, have a high aesthetic appeal. The main focus of his work is on the examination of urban objects (houses, flags, billboards,...) and through his work raises their forms to a new symbolic status and architectural scale.
With the themes of addiction and greed, Tom Fruin presents the viewer with a mirror without moralizing. The artist gives an insight into his subjective interpretation of the American soul. In his works, a fragile beauty often resonates in spite of the desolation. The works draw their attraction from the contrast between a ruinous life course and the remains and relics of an ecstatically led life.
