Tributes flow for beloved artist
CELEBRATED Tasmanian artist, culinary genius, husband, father and friend Tom Samek has died after a long battle with Motor Neurone Disease.
Arguably one of the state’s most prolific and collected artists, his works have been seen in prestigious galleries, local businesses, homes and street spaces during a career spanning almost 50 years.
Samek’s passport was as colourful as his artistic resume, having been born in Prague in 1950 and arriving in Tasmania in 1971, with exhibitions spanning the US, Switzerland, Singapore, Japan and the Czech Republic.
His creative prowess has included sculpture, painting, printmaking, tapestry, mural, theatre set design and film animation.
One of his finest works is the floor mural, Flawed History of Tasmanian Wine, at the Meadowbank Estate winery (now known as Frogmore Creek), featuring painted, carved and etched detailing integrated with comic and nonsense poetry written by his friend, Graeme Phillips.
Another iconic piece is a mosaic mural at the University of
Tasmania School of Engineering, featuring names of notable engineers, staff and students as part of the 50th anniversary celebrations for the school.
Samek’s artworks often provided whimsical takes on Australian customs, language, food and wine and, with his considerable culinary talents, the line was often blurred between cuisine and art.
Trained as a motor mechanic while still in his native Czechoslovakia, to gain entry to Australia at age 20, Samek ended up not using the qualification and instead pursued cooking as a way to pay the bills before art took over.
Ever resourceful, he taught himself to cook from the memory of his grandmother’s food from when she operated a restaurant, remembering how it tasted and working back until he matched it.
In the 1970s Samek ran a restaurant at St Andrew’s Inn in Cleveland, and later worked with Phillips at Prospect House in Richmond, and he occasionally cooked game dinners for Hadley’s Hotel in Hobart.
Samek leaves behind wife Tracey and son Oskar Rossi.
Arts Minister Elise Archer paid tribute to Samek.
“His exceptional talent, craft and visual wit have played an integral role in putting Tasmanian art on the map, and his work is represented in galleries around Australia and New Zealand,” Ms Archer said.
“Tom Samek’s unique style imbued humour and whimsy into his visual reflections on everyday life, and his instantly recognisable visual parodies of our relationship with food, drink, culture and the domestic world around us exude a genuine warmth and compassion for the human condition.”
She said some of Samek’s bestknown large-scale art pieces in Tasmania include Flawed History of Tasmanian Wine, the Meadowbank floor gallery, the RACT Mural in the foyer of the RACT Building in Hobart, and two celebratory murals at the School of Engineering at the University of Tasmania’s Sandy Bay campus.
“On a personal note, I know that Mr Samek was incredibly generous, donating many of his artworks and his own culinary talent for auction, for the benefit of many local charities,” she said.
“Mr Samek’s passing will be deeply felt by the arts community both near and far, but his incredible talent and creative legacy leaves a lasting impression that will be celebrated for many, many years to come.
“Vale Tom Samek.”
talent and His incredible leaves a creative legacy that will lasting impression many, be celebrated for come many years to Elise Archer