303 Gallery is proud to present our third solo exhibition of new watercolors by Tim Gardner.
Tim Gardner’s watercolors explore representations of masculinity through an expanding range of male archetypes and personal iconography. Using imagery from his own photographs, as well as the holiday snapshot archives of friends and family, Gardner’s watercolors are rendered with a photo-like accuracy that are enhanced by the expressive painterly nature of the watercolor medium.
In "Untitled (Red Sky)" three young men pose leisurely on a basketball court backed by a vibrant sunset. "Untitled (Soldiers)" depicts a statue of three Vietnam War veterans whose camaraderie was formed under drastically different circumstances than the basketball players. Gardner’s ongoing investigation of what it is to be male brings together a wide range of possibilities. Occasionally, Gardner presents to us extremes, such as "Untitled (Bodybuilders)", in which contestants are pitted against one another in a struggle of masculine hierarchy. Other works portray a skewed form of affection or nostalgia, such as "Untitled (Ryan in Bed)", a close-up portrait of a passed-out friend, or “Untitled (Jon Watching the Ocean)” which shows a single figure by the shore.
Central to Gardner’s inquiry of masculine gender identity are depictions of the sublime landscape. These vistas explore a sense of place and belonging through personally significant locations such as "Untitled (Cloud break over Mt. Temple)" and "Untitled (Mt. Athabasca – Dusk).
Tim Gardner’s work have been included this year in “Painting On The Move”, curated by Peter Pakesch, at the Kunsthalle Basel, Basel, Switzerland, “Here is There 2”, Secession, Vienna, Austria” and “Some Options in Realism”, curated by Klaus Kurtes at the Carpenter Center, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachussetts. Last year Gardner’s work was seen in “Best of the Season” at The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield,CT, and in 2000 in “Greater New York”, P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, NY. He had a one-person exhibition Donna Beam Fine Art Gallery, University of Nevada, Las Vegas and his work is in the collections of The Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, New Jersey and the Museum of Modern Art, New York.