Thomas Ribas
MFA Fine Arts: 2023
Tom Hecht is an artist that makes sculptural wall pieces with wood, stuffing, and sewn-together fabric. The artist was born in New York City in 1993, and he currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. His upbringing was shaped by a mixture of influences that span Hecht’s diverse background as Brazilian, Sephardi, Ashkenazi, American, and raised by lesbian parents. Hecht is the older brother to two international adoptees from Khatmandu, Nepal, and is a first-generation American. Underlying systems, networks, power differentials, and communication are spaces that deeply inspire Hecht’s practice. He takes a conceptual approach but executes artworks that can communicate in ways that are playful or casually disarming. His undergraduate training in Architecture comes through in his practice because the artist works in a manner that may touch model making, sketching, drawing, and digital visualization before the execution of a sculpture in the studio.