Language of the Heart

Whose Desire Turns, pencil and inks, with quote by Jung.

This is a small exhibition of my recent work that opened recently at the Holter Museum of Art.  I'm using relationships– specifically the relationship between the artist and the model– as a metaphor for self-discovery.  Over years I've developed some techniques to turn the modeling session, a staple of figurative artists, into a kind of theater where the model becomes a screen for my own unconscious projections.  This single form becomes a lab for the exploration of relational factors in a sterile environment.  When I then look at the drawing I can see something surprising and new; and different from what I would have drawn were the model simply themselves.  It's a subtle difference that makes all the difference.

Here is a doorway that seems to open up to a whole universe of possibilities, as the light inside each person is refracted on a number of levels, each eliciting its own unique response.  I am trying to make that process a little more visible in an area where all of us traffic daily: in relationships. It gets complicated quickly, but I find it very meaningful and intriguing to look into another to discover what is actually inside yourself!  Hopefully this is what the viewer experiences.

A great portrait is a picture of the model. 

A great artwork is a picture of the artist. 

If you are moved by an artwork this is because it is a picture of YOU!  – Believe it!

 

More images to be found here:

http://www.timholmesstudio.com/flatwork/heart_exhibit/Heart_ex.html