Timothy Callaghan: Baroque Down Horizon, at Busta Projects

Timothy Callaghan makes art of the places that he sees in the ordinariness of his life. It is in some ways a contrary to the frequent practice of artists to travel to generate new ideas, looking for the unfamiliar, the dramatic, the exotic. (Admittedly there is benefit to this, as travel is one of the ways that we can see the world, literally and figuratively, in a new light.) Callaghan travels too, but what he paints is what he sees in his travels to and from work, to the grocery store, and around his neighborhood. This is his ambition of thinking as well as his ambition of painting.

In this body of work, Callaghan stretches horizontally (mostly) as well as vertically. There are many places in our world where the horizon stretches naturally, like overlooks on mountains, across treeless prairies, or over bodies of water. In Ohio, our visual expanse is usually limited by the flat or gently rolling landscape and the embrace of trees and buildings. But, exceptionally, there is the awesomeness of Lake Erie, where space seems limitless and sunsets dip below a reflective horizon. For Callaghan, living in an East-Side lakeshore neighborhood, that horizon informs him every day.

Horizontal lines—bands of color—have become increasingly important in Callaghan’s paintings for a number of years. The development was thoughtful and contemplative. Looking at the brushstrokes, the immediacy of the work suggests a fast process, but it is not. Compositions are conceived in sketch books; color composition and saturation are studious choices; pieces in process return again and again to studio walls as they cautiously move toward completion.

Most people don’t think about peripheral vision much, except when being attentive. Like when we are taking an eye test as we renew our driver’s license. We usually mask the peripheral, except when it is necessary to navigate from here to there. Our visual awareness tends to be centered, to focus on the objective of our perception.

It has often been said that a painting—particularly of a landscape—is like a window. And, given the size of most paintings, that window is not very large. We can see it all at once. As the size of a painting expands, it becomes more and more necessary for eyes to move through the work of art. These paintings ask us to take time, with perception always having a past and a future. It is not all at once. They are narratives of light and experience and place. Our light; our experience; our place.

WILLIAM BUSTA PROJECTS
15517 Waterloo Road, Suites 2 and 4
Cleveland, Ohio 44110
wbusta@sbcglobal.net
216.401.2752
Open noon-5pm Thursday, Friday & Saturday during scheduled exhibitions

EVENTS:

Timothy Callaghan – Baroque Down Horizon, August 29–September 27. Opening reception 6-8:30pm Friday, August 29