I recently caught up with Artist Timothy Berry at his San Francisco studio, where he has been entertaining & creating for more than 11 years.. here is a brief excerpt from that visit.
I'd like to discuss your most recent work.. How has it been
informed by your Printmaking practice? This work seems like a
departure from " straight-ahead " printmaking.
It's really a
chicken and egg situation as my approach to working. No matter what the process
with which I am engaging might be, it has always reflected traditional ways of
print creation. I’ve always felt it had a direct correlation to my dyslexia. Of
course these new works actually have a formal printed element within them, so
here it’s an obvious observation.
Can you discuss your process, how do the pieces evolve and when do you consider them finished?
Simply put my
process is one of tearing down and rebuilding. I cannot be linear as I don’t
ever trust my initial gestures, it's in the reconfiguring that it all makes
sense. I’m looking for something I won’t recognize until I see it, and it's
in that recognition that finality can also emerge.
What / Whom inspires your work?
I have a genuine belief that words, tales, stories, and spells have an
extraordinary force in the world, that in life if you feel you’ve been beaten
you can win back some measure of what you’ve lost through language, in my case
a visual language.
The content of your work seems to have a narrative thread, would
you consider these pieces to be evidence of memory or a specific place?
I
don’t believe there is always a difference. As an example: melancholy & loneliness are feelings most people consider the same. However I feel you are lonely
when you miss something you once had & melancholy when you are missing something you never had.
What are your future plans / where might we see these works in a
completed series?
The future is now, in that I
am in the process of hand painting six of the trial proofs to be reconfigured
as triptychs. The collaboration with myself that is happening between hand to
computer and back to hand is very exciting and very Tim
Berry.
The works are available to view online at the Magnolia Editions site & you can view the actual paintings at Magnolia Editions in Oakland, CA.
About Timothy Berry:
Timothy Berry has been an active and accomplished artist for over 30 years. His paintings, drawings, and prints have been exhibited extensively in museums and galleries throughout the United States and Europe, including 21 solo and 75 group exhibitions.His studio practice extends to his artist’s collaborations in print as Teaberry Press. He is the department chair of Printmaking at the San Francisco Art Institute and faculty at the University of California Davis.
Detail images from work(s) past & present
by Artist, Printmaker & Professor Tim Berry
photos: savanna snow
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