Thom Lessner - Canvas - skating and apinting - Brief Article

Thrasher Magazine, July, 2002 by Patrick O'Dell

THOM AND I WENT TO HIGH SCHOOL TOGETHER.

Our school was an upper-class suburban jock nightmare. We were about the only two skaters in the school--I know this is a cliched sentiment to the skaters of my generation, but I mention it in order to give better insight into Thom's work. When he isn't doing some strange odd-job like painting murals for pizza parlors, or rocking-out on open-mic night, he's sitting in his attic making cartoon paintings of his favorite cultural icons. One time he painted several hundred portraits of Cubs baseball players, rented out a booth at a Cubs convention and sold his pictures for five dollars each. Another time he painted huge pictures of Ohio State football players in tighty-whiteys and drilled them to walls all over Columbus, Days later they were all ripped down. His paintings are hilarious. He usually paints cartoons of his favorite bands like the Ramones, Johnathan Richman, or Blue Oyster Cult. He's a fan of what he paints, but finds a way to make it funny. My favorite is the one I have on my wail that says "Nobody' s stuck in Ohio."