ink on paper,2006, 6 x 8 inches

Timothy Callaghan

I envision my work as poems, folk tales, and songs with which I associate my particular experience of a mid-west landscape. This condition of place and time affected by economy, weather, and people who have occupied and abandoned it, allows for an open interpretation of an exceptionally distinctive experience. An empty place or recently deserted landscape has all of the components of a narrative waiting to be constructed. When I come across a vacant place or an awkward landscape I am compelled to create characters and plots that directly relate to the scene before me. Like a seemingly regrettable turn of events in a blues song, I take these images and scenes from my everyday experiences and celebrate their misfortune by transposing them onto canvas. It is about wasted opportunities, apathy, and heritage. But within the imagery there is also a struggle to overcome these obstacles and then it can become about power, knowledge, and luck. The paintings are no longer derelict images but passages of triumph.

Humor in my work is employed in a similar way; a self-conscious and unassuming view of the world around me. The tragic comedy, a classic tool in both literature and film, aids in my editing process when composing a picture and choosing images. I do not set out to make funny paintings; I want to make insightful paintings that sometimes utilize humorous images.  I am very conscious of my own hand and its limitations. The immediacy of the handmade image allows for earnest and subjective readings that grant the work longevity.

The distinct element of numerous painting languages highlights two important components. When composing a picture, the history of art is one of my most valuable tools. This syntax of different marks is my relationship to that history and simultaneously functions as a visual arrangement of the instruments of narrative structure.  Whatever the instrument chosen, it is edited according to necessity. A drip could be the protagonist against a drawn linear antagonist creating a matrix of layering that embodies the linear format of storytelling. In these paintings, I have created a stage that parades my adoration for painting, exploits my failures as a draftsman, and highlights the process of constructing a story. This process is in keeping with the tone of the imagery, a defeated mid-west landscape that holds so many stories. Painting in this manner allows the aesthetic of layering to become a diagram or record of the history of building the plot. Simultaneously it also becomes a linear narrative about painting and drawing.

More about him and his work can be found at www.timothycallaghan.com