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“Native expresses himself in abstract”
Rayland native Martin Timko’s paintings elicit an emotional response from viewers – regardless of whether they are looking at a small reproduction or one of his massive original works.
Timko’s style has evolved from the strong influences of Abstract Expressionism and its recognized offspring Color Field painting.
The Rayland native, the youngest of Ray and Joan Timko’s three children and graduate of Buckeye South High School, still considers his Ohio Valley roots to be influential in his art. He presently lives in Columbus.
“His paintings make no attempt to ingratiate themselves to the viewer. Rather, they compel our attention and win our admiration through his stubborn adherence to larger natural truths,” said a reviewer of Timko’s work. The review was included in the February, 1991 issue of Artspeak New York, a monthly gallery review publication.
“One’s first impression, on entering a gallery filled with Timko’s paintings, is of earthy essences, expressed in a subtle range of browns, umbers, and deep burnished reds,” said that same reviewer.
Timko’s “Avenging Nature,” with its razor sharp brush strokes suggesting “the sneak attack of a summer storm” leaves the viewer almost dizzy.
While the single high school art class Timko took did not influence him, the fact his mother painted did, he said. But there were other influences as well.
“As a teenager, photography became more important to me than painting. I wasn’t interested in traditional photography either, spending most of my early film isolating color and making abstractions of nature,” said Timko.
After graduating from Ohio State University with a degree in Mental Health, Timko became “completely overwhelmed, disinterested, and overburdened with the world,” he said – elements which were key to his subsequent success as a painter.
“During this difficult time, I turned inward and started painting again,” he reflected, revealing his creative soul.
“Over the years my work developed into nature abstractions and landscapes. It is not representational. I’m still not interested in realism. What’s more important to me are the recurring themes in the paintings that reflect my view of the world. It’s the art I want to see, what I want around me,” said Timko of his own work.
Timko’s favorite medium is acrylic. “I’m able use a wet on wet technique that dries quickly,’ he said.
Recently Timko’s paintings have become massive in scale, some measuring as much a 6 by 12 feet. “I think paintings should have an imposing scale and enough color to envelope a viewer,” Timko explained. But even to his own argument there are two sides. “I also paint smaller works, as small as 3 by 5 inches,” he said. “I find them very spontaneous and fun to do.”
Timko’s “ultimate reference point,” is the New York School of Abstract Expressionism, a dominant element in the art world from the 1940’s through the 1960’s.
Abstract Expressionist painters who have influenced Timko’s work include Franz Kline, Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, and Robert Motherwell. The Rayland native explained that these artists have heavily influenced his painting style and “continue to be my prime motivating force.”
“This is the art I was seeing as a child in the museums my parents took me to. It was what I imagined art to be, even before I knew what it was called,” said Timko of the works of these expressionists.
Timko describes his early works – largely landscapes and nature paintings – crafted in a smaller more realistic manner than his most recent works. “I’ve drifted further from realism into abstraction.” His work “Avenging Nature,” is one such painting, according to Timko.
Where did this ethereal approach come from? He attributes much of the style change to a change in his everyday environment – or every night. After recently moving to a large studio in a more urban setting, he began working “almost exclusively at night. In that quiet and isolation, my paintings got larger, darker, and more intuitive,” said Timko.
“I still feel nature in my work, but now it seems filtered through a human mind, my own.” He said, "I try to bridge the two divisions of that movement, gestural painting and color field painting. But ultimately, I’m simply a devotee, a post-generation Abstract Expressionist,” said the artist. “My challenge is to keep the spirit of the movement alive in my work, while not submerging my own.”
Timko has participated in solo and group exhibits in Columbus, Los Angeles, New York, and elsewhere. Additionally, he has completed many privately commissioned works and corporate collections.
-Kim Loccisano, The Times Leader, Martins Ferry, Ohio.
Attach photo: “artist in front of recent painting w/ladder” “Rayland native Martin Timko, now of Columbus, stands before one of his recent paintings.”
2nd reproduction, “Avenging Nature” |
