Nova Scotia Artist Tim Forbes - A Journey of Personal Expression
Selections from Forbes Carbon Black Painting Series on Exhibition in “Minimalism Transformed“ at Oeno Gallery, Ontario November 13 - December 5, 2021
During Art Toronto 2009, my charge was to amplify the presence of a series of commanding sculptures presented to international collectors in attendance at Canada’s premier art market event. The compelling forms on showcase within a client’s booth made up the HUMAN suite, a body of stately sculptures created by Canadian multi-disciplinary artist Tim Forbes.
Turns out, the presentation of this first edition of bronze sculptures signaled Forbes’ about-turn from a 40-year career as an acclaimed creative director and graphic designer, where he serviced an impressive list of clients as a producer of international marketing campaigns for Canada’s film and television industry, as well as for leading corporations and performing arts organizations. This event would set the stage for his foray into fine art, as he put it, “to explore a new direction of personal expression.” That meant hours of experimentation in a 1920’s rural Ontario schoolhouse where he spent his days investigating the haptic aspects of sculpture.
As a sculptor, after hand-molding maquettes in clay or metal, Forbes employs a hybrid of traditional and leading-edge fabrication process to achieve scale, be it taut archetypal form in bronze, resin, chroma-fiberglass or dynamic gestural stainless works. The form of the finished maquette inspires aesthetic decisions such as scale and patina. “I then rely on a team to realize the fabrication of large-scale work….,” he said. The completed forms often realized in alluring, sensual finishes are perfect compliments to lush gardens, entryways to modern condos and accessories to grassy marshlands of appointed homes.
I have had the privilege to hold a front row seat to the practice of the resplendent artist with creative output of paintings, photo-art and sculptures that exist in a shared universe, seeming to influence each other. A masterful conceptualist, Forbes practice is defined by its distinct visual language, as if insinuating a love affair with architecture, or narrating private histories while layering cultural undertones. And knowing the artist as I do, it is conceivable that the creative output of this natural contrarian are rife with hidden allegories and meanings.
Forbes early photo-art references the uncommon details of landscapes and architecture, experimenting early-on with hyper-realism, a technique which repurposes photographic compositions of both nature and urban habitats, while challenging the viewer to look ever more closely through archeological patterns, architectural lines and fractal conceits. In contrast, he captures single-perspective narratives that document rural environments, which, according to Forbes – “represent the honesty of shelter, utility and life.” In his 2018 edition COME FROM HERE – he delved into the “Architecture of Place,” as if creating a visual record of structures within sleepy towns along bays and waterways, which line Canada’s East coast.
In 2019, Forbes began the production of large scale works on canvas; a carbon black series, forming narratives of 2-dimensional flatness that are aligned to sculpture. The bold black and white paintings explore scale and form that reflect contemporary minimalist modeling, concerned with notions of repetition, patterning, and permanence and serve as a study in gesture, spatial tension and tonal contrast. About his choice to paint in black the artist proclaimed: “I like black. It is a color that has made up its mind. It holds authoritative rebellion within the color wheel.”
Forbes carbon black paintings will be featured in an exhibition entitled “Minimalism Transformed,” at Ontario’s Oeno Gallery, November 13 - December 5, 2021 together with artists Arron Hill and Jana Osterman. A selection of his canvases will also be presented in the gallery’s virtual exhibition at Art Toronto 2021.
Experiencing Forbes practice over 12 years has been emotive of floating sky lanterns, engaging in their graceful ascent. His art can now be found in collections as far as Corsica, Monaco, Houston, and as close to home as Toronto and Halifax. Not surprising to those who have followed and appreciated his artistic journey, notable commissions have accompanied the growing calls, among which included a 2018 call to create original black and white studies as part of the re-design of the Canadian flagship hotel in the prestigious Ritz-Carlton chain. Other important commissions in Toronto included "LeLoop,” a stainless-steel gestural sculpture for Daniel Libeskind’s L- Tower, "Power” created for a terrace in the Massey Tower, and “Cloud," a 3.5m porcelain-white sculpture engineered to float in a pool on the rooftop terrace of The Art Shoppe condo complex. In 2021, as part of the $200M Queen’s Marque waterfront development in Halifax, a commission for Nova Scotia’s first 5-star hotel, Marriott’s Muir, saw the creation of “Sentinels and Boats” –– a series of photo-base portraits of the rugged Atlantic shore.
Of his art historical inspiration, Tim Forbes responds: “I tend not to have heroes but am moved by the power and purview of generations of artists: Cimabue, Etruscan bronze, permission from Picasso or Bacon, electrification from Mary Weatherford, sex from Ken Price, immersion from Julie Mehretu, tempo from Twombly, climax in Riopelle, transcendence from Soulages. The amalgam informs the subconscious.”
TIM FORBES (b.1949) is a Canadian visual artist and sculptor, born in Halifax on the East Coast of Canada. After sharing studio time between Toronto and his native Nova Scotia for many years, Forbes is now nestled in a permanent studio in Blue Rocks, Nova Scotia.