Timothy Curtis
Temporary Decisions, Inkblots and Bikes
Solo Exhibition
Exhibition dates: 11.09. – 15.10.2020, Presented by Albertz Benda, NYC & Arndt Art Agency, Berlin
OPENING: Friday 11th September, 12 - 8pm, during Berlin Art Week and parallel to Gallery Weekend Berlin 2020
Arndt Art Agency is pleased to announce New York-based artist Timothy Curtis' debut solo exhibition in Europe entitled "Temporary Decisions: Inkblots and Bikes" presented in collaboration with Albertz Benda, New York as part of GALLERY WEEKEND BERLIN and BERLIN ART WEEK 2020.
"Temporary Decisions: Inkblots and Bikes” will be on view from the 11th of September to the 15th of October at Arndt Art Agency’s premises in Fasanenstraße 28. “Serving an excessive term of twenty years parole and probation, I never feel quite comfortable or free. My requests to travel out of the USA to attend exhibitions in several different countries over the past four years - including Japan, Barcelona, Taiwan, South Korea and now Berlin, Germany - have been denied over and over again.” (Timothy Curtis, July 2020)
Curtis’ latest body of work is a reflection on the recent COVID-19 lockdown in New York City. Responding to this new confinement, the artist has revisited practices similar to those he used while incarcerated. In 2002, after disobeying a judge’s orders to appear in court numerous times, Curtis was subjected to Rorschach tests over the course of a five-hour psychological evaluation. While he no longer recalls his answers, the impact of the evaluation remains. In 2010, two years into an eight-year prison sentence, Curtis discovered that Hermann Rorschach had been a practicing artist prior to becoming a psychiatrist. Understanding the inkblots as artwork, Curtis began painting inkblot faces during this time. Engaging in a self-directed study of art history within prison, Curtis also learned of artists such as Fernand Léger and Georges Braque depicting the bicycle as a symbol of freedom. This also resonated with Curtis personally, as he had been a bike messenger for many years. He started creating “Bicycle Systems” of bars, bicycle tubes, forks, and chain rings to represent the conflicting feelings of freedom and confinement he experiences to this day while being one of seven million currently on parole, probation, or subject to the control of the United States Correctional System.
Throughout his experiences with the prison system, Curtis has been sustained by art’s ability to create freedom and peace of mind, even in the most trying situations. While the works in “Temporary Decisions: Inkblots and Bikes” are deeply personal, their interpretations are left entirely to the viewer.
About the artist:
Timothy Curtis was born in 1982 in Philadelphia, USA. He is a self-taught artist who currently lives and works in New York City. Since establishing a focused studio practice in 2015, Curtis realised his first solo exhibition in November 2017 at Kaikai Kiki’s Hidari Zingaro gallery in Tokyo, Japan, curated by Takashi Murakami. Curtis held his first solo show in New York with albertz benda and was featured in the landmark group exhibition “The Pencil is a Key” in 2019 at the Drawing Center, New York, alongside artist icons such as Gustave Courbet, Egon Schiele, Otto Dix and Max Ernst. In 2021, he will stage the exhibition “City as Studio” curated by Jeffrey Deitch, K11, Hong Kong in 2021.
OPENING: Friday 11th September, 12 - 8pm, during Berlin Art Week and parallel to Gallery Weekend Berlin 2020
Arndt Art Agency is pleased to announce New York-based artist Timothy Curtis' debut solo exhibition in Europe entitled "Temporary Decisions: Inkblots and Bikes" presented in collaboration with Albertz Benda, New York as part of GALLERY WEEKEND BERLIN and BERLIN ART WEEK 2020.
"Temporary Decisions: Inkblots and Bikes” will be on view from the 11th of September to the 15th of October at Arndt Art Agency’s premises in Fasanenstraße 28. “Serving an excessive term of twenty years parole and probation, I never feel quite comfortable or free. My requests to travel out of the USA to attend exhibitions in several different countries over the past four years - including Japan, Barcelona, Taiwan, South Korea and now Berlin, Germany - have been denied over and over again.” (Timothy Curtis, July 2020)
Curtis’ latest body of work is a reflection on the recent COVID-19 lockdown in New York City. Responding to this new confinement, the artist has revisited practices similar to those he used while incarcerated. In 2002, after disobeying a judge’s orders to appear in court numerous times, Curtis was subjected to Rorschach tests over the course of a five-hour psychological evaluation. While he no longer recalls his answers, the impact of the evaluation remains. In 2010, two years into an eight-year prison sentence, Curtis discovered that Hermann Rorschach had been a practicing artist prior to becoming a psychiatrist. Understanding the inkblots as artwork, Curtis began painting inkblot faces during this time. Engaging in a self-directed study of art history within prison, Curtis also learned of artists such as Fernand Léger and Georges Braque depicting the bicycle as a symbol of freedom. This also resonated with Curtis personally, as he had been a bike messenger for many years. He started creating “Bicycle Systems” of bars, bicycle tubes, forks, and chain rings to represent the conflicting feelings of freedom and confinement he experiences to this day while being one of seven million currently on parole, probation, or subject to the control of the United States Correctional System.
Throughout his experiences with the prison system, Curtis has been sustained by art’s ability to create freedom and peace of mind, even in the most trying situations. While the works in “Temporary Decisions: Inkblots and Bikes” are deeply personal, their interpretations are left entirely to the viewer.
About the artist:
Timothy Curtis was born in 1982 in Philadelphia, USA. He is a self-taught artist who currently lives and works in New York City. Since establishing a focused studio practice in 2015, Curtis realised his first solo exhibition in November 2017 at Kaikai Kiki’s Hidari Zingaro gallery in Tokyo, Japan, curated by Takashi Murakami. Curtis held his first solo show in New York with albertz benda and was featured in the landmark group exhibition “The Pencil is a Key” in 2019 at the Drawing Center, New York, alongside artist icons such as Gustave Courbet, Egon Schiele, Otto Dix and Max Ernst. In 2021, he will stage the exhibition “City as Studio” curated by Jeffrey Deitch, K11, Hong Kong in 2021.
Enquiry
