Tom Bacher (American, 1951–2025)

A lifelong innovator and beloved friend of the gallery, Tom Bacher transformed the experience of painting with his signature use of phosphorescent crystals suspended in acrylic paint. His luminous cityscapes and glowing sunsets, visible in both light and darkness, blur the line between traditional painting and experiential art. Bacher’s work invites viewers to engage with the passage of time and light itself.

Born in Cincinnati, Bacher studied at the Art Academy of Cincinnati, Yale Summer School of Music and Art, and earned his MFA from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. His early fascination with neon and the glow of urban landscapes became a lifelong pursuit, culminating in a unique body of work that earned him national and international acclaim. He exhibited widely, including solo shows in New York, Paris, Brussels, Dallas, and Los Angeles, and his work is held in public and private collections across the U.S. and Europe.

His vibrant spirit and artistic vision will be deeply missed, but forever felt.

Studied

BFA, Art Academy of Cincinnati, OH; MFA, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY; Yale Summer School of Music and Art, New Haven, CT

Exhibited

Cincinnati Art Galleries, OH (solo); O.K. Harris Works of Art, NY (solo), Exhibit Gallery, Chicago, IL (solo); Karen Mitchell Frank Gallery, Dallas, TX (solo);La Maison des Arts De Chatillon, Paris, France (solo);Galerie La Papeterie, Brussels, Belgium (solo); Richard Coplan Gallery, Boca Raton Florida (solo); Nemiroff-Deutsch Gallery, Santa Monica, CA (solo); PBCC Museum of Art Palm Beach, FL (solo);Wenger Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; Bologna Landi Gallery, East Hampton, NY; Helander Gallery, Palm Beach, FL; Cincinnati Art Museum; Fine Arts Museum of Long Island, Hempstead, NY; Pensacola Museum of Art, FL; Part West Gallery, Detroit, MI; Galerie La Papeterie, Brussels, Belgium; 

Collections

Norton Center for the Arts,Danville, KY; Chemical Bank, New York, NY; Provident Bank of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH; Ohio State Office Tower, Columbus, OH; Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce, Cincinnati, OH; Central Trust Bank of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH; The Barrelhouse Brewery, Cincinnati, OH; Cincinnati Computer Data Center, Cincinnati, OH; Emery Realty, Cincinnati, OH; Centre Properties Ltd., Chicago, IL; Cincinnati Financial Corporation, Cincinnati, OH; Goldman Sachs and Company, New York, NY; Corday Inc., South Norwalk, CT; PHH Fleet America, Hunt Valley, MD; Sydney Besthoff III, New Orleans, LA; Daniel Filipacchi,Paris, France; Thurston and Laila Twigg-Smith, Honolulu, HI; Henry Geldzahler, New York, NY; Nancy and James Krasne, Beverly Hills, CA