Park West Gallery Presents
the Art of Tim Yanke

Take a moment to really look at a work of Yanke art and you begin to experience the layers of meaning. The creation of the work involves a deeper level of consciousness. While a work may focus on a dominant image, secondary imagery spontaneously emerges, based not only on Tim’s personal experience, but also on his working environment. A song he hears may result in line that resembles words that feel like a faint, distant memory, just out of our grasp.

Of his painting, Tim has observed, “I go along for the ride. While I’m in control, it’s like an improvisational dance. The more I analyze it, the more I try to depict what should go where, the more I risk hitting an artistic block. I realize it’s taking too long; the art is now controlling me. I just get into the piece, not think about it, not worry about the boundaries. Music is probably the biggest tool I have; it helps free my mind and helps me capture the rhythm and the flow of he piece.”

Likewise, experiencing abstract art requires a similar abandonment; a setting aside of rationality for a deeper level of consciousness. Much like a stereogram, viewing an abstract work involves putting aside the conscious and letting the subconscious “see” the image. It requires focus and an abandonment of expectation, but once the viewer is able to settle into this frame of mind, the work calls up all sorts of associations, most of which the viewer brings to the work. Seen through this personal lens, the abstraction takes on deeper meaning. Perhaps it evokes music, or theater, the chaos of a city street or the peace of sitting beside a stream.

We get blindsided by society and the expectation that art needs to “look like something;” abstract art flies in the face of this. “The beauty of abstract art,” says Tim, “is that 100 different people will have 100 different interpretations of a work. Abstract art is reminiscent of play and childhood. It’s fun…fun to do, fun to look at, fun to experience. It evokes emotion…curiosity. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

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