Born in Akron, OH, and currently based in Fredonia, NY, TOMMY HARTUNG is an artist and educator specializing in animation and mixed-media sculpture. His work examines history, technology, and narrative intersections, frequently incorporating handcrafted props, stop-motion animation, and digital manipulation.

His solo exhibitions include The Bible (2014), which explored themes of ideology and myth through a blend of sculpture and animation, and King Solomon’s Mines at the Rose Art Museum, a project that dismantled colonial narratives using found objects and digital techniques.

Alongside solo projects, his work has been showcased in group exhibitions at prominent institutions like the Hermitage Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art Biennial (2017), the Hammer Museum, and the Jewish Museum. His pieces are also part of the public collections at the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Hammer Museum, and the Rose Art Museum. Hartung’s accolades include the 2011 Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Grant and the 2016 Louis Comfort Tiffany Grant.

As an educator, he is an Assistant Professor of Digital Art in the Digital Media, Arts, and Technology program at Penn State Behrend, where he guides students in visual media and narrative construction. Before this role, he taught at the State University of New York at Purchase and New York University, sharing his digital arts and animation expertise.