Tim Gardner: Oil Paintings

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Tim Gardner, "Corvette Night Scene," 2016

oil on canvas, 24” x 30” Courtesy of the artist, Monte Clark Gallery and 303 Gallery, New York

Unparalleled in his ability to render scenes in the traditional mediums of pastel and watercolour, Tim Gardner has recently expanded his practice by exploring the multi-faceted and technical history of oil painting. Congruent with his previous work, the central theme of the exhibition is the relationship between people and the natural world.

Depicting dreamlike scenes in sunsets, moonlight and snowy winter landscapes, Gardner concurrently subverts our expectations of classical landscape painting. Within these majestic scenes, he inserts quiet human dramas that create subtle narrative tension: boys start to fight on a beach; a lone man walks with a gas can on a darkening highway.

Gardner’s practice has often shown contemporary depictions of masculinity, whether subverting or confirming our expectations of what that could be. Intertwined with the psychological readings of his figures are examples of this play, either subverting epic masculinity, or—with a man lighting a cigarette beside a moon-drenched Corvette overlooking the ocean—embracing it.

Tim Gardner completed his MFA at Columbia University in 1999 and has since exhibited his work at The National Gallery (London UK), the San Francisco MoMA, Modern Art (London), the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Kunsthalle Basel, the Contemporary Art Gallery (Vancouver), 303 Gallery (New York), and at numerous other institutions. His work is held in collections worldwide including the National Gallery of Canada, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Whitney Museum, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMoMA).

Read Helena Wadsley's review of this exhibition here.