Time & The Cracks Between Things - Tim McFarlane

Statement: The fluid, inconsistent space of memory influenced by time, ongoing changes to man-made environments and human communication forms the foundation of content for my paintings and works on paper. My work is most informed by personal observations of human-driven changes like the ongoing remaking of public and personal spaces. The subject of my curiosity is the residual by-products of human activity seen in the remnants of old buildings at construction sites, random once-cherished belongings found on the street entangled with other detritus, public spaces changed through continual use and anonymous but public mark-making, like graffiti (and the resulting patterns left by the erasure (buffing) of graffiti). There is always evidence of a story of some kind to be found in these dislocated fragments of human life. By merging aspects of my lived experience, observations of changes occurring around me and imagined scenarios, I make non-objective work that reflects broad experiences of life and memory.

My works emphasize multi-layered systems, color (chromatic and gray scale) and process. In my paintings, overlapping forms and fractured spaces alternately support, negate and influence each other, mirroring events in everyday life. Shifts in formal relationships between layers, marks, color, and space, subtle and overt, contribute to the overall visual narrative in my work. My paintings and works on paper feature open and opaque layers that incorporate various modes of mark making including: direct painting, drawing, image transfers, stenciling and collage. My process relies on a sense of interdependence and chance happenings, which allows for multiple meanings in my work that can be explored by the viewer.