Tim Biskup in Barcelona

July 20th, 2006

For those who live in Barcelona and are well acquainted with it’s artistic contemporary scene the sixth of July was an important day. A hot Thursday marked by two important exhibitions, or as one might say, one great collaboration.

Almost in the same block of the street, Iguapop Galleryand Mercado del Borne did something that should have been done a long time ago, work together. Two american artists, two separate spaces, one single audience. On one side Gary Baseman (www.garybaseman.com)with “Venison”, at the Mercado, on the other side, at Iguapops’, Tim Biskup (www.timbiskup.com) and “American Cyclops”. Two artists that are used to work together wouldn’t do it any other way, here in the condal city.

In “American Cyclops” one feels totally in american ground. The californian style can be felt in every corner of Iguapop. Tim Biskup is the first to confirm this sensation: “I am really inspired by California as a place and culturally”. He lives in Los Angeles and as much as he likes to travel he wouldn’t trade his home, in the village of Las Cañadas where he lives with his wife and child, for nothing in the world : “I really feel traditionaly based in California, and I really feel that my way of thinking about art is tipically californian”.

So, what is this kind of art that little by little is reaching our lands? An art that searches for inspiration in the history of a country, it’s own. A country that is still too young to tell a long story. An art that has as brothers the Punk-Rock movement and the Skate scene, that lives under the laws of the Do It Yourself movement. An art that never stops to criticize, that likes to put the finger where it hurts the most, and best of all, an art that uses it’s own poison, it’s traditions. In this Biskup rules, by using Folk art, the most traditional of the american way of live, he plays dangerously by using naif motivs like animals, plants and all the well known lettering that always takes us to the western world.

It’s a finger strongly pointed to the country’s ideological believes, but the irony of the situation is in the way Biskup does it visually. The worlds of animation, comics and the endless trips to Disneyland can be easily seen in every single detail of his work. His technique will leed him, eventually, to another level, the conceptualization of his work: “ Much of my work is an intelectual comment on american life, but it’s also an emotional connection for me because there’s a lot of themes about what I see inAmerica that I see in myself. The sense of trying to maintain a belief, trying to make life follow what you truly believe, and that’s what been great about America and also been wrong with America, where it’s easy to choose the easiest way, the way of corruption, lies and hate”.

Because of all this The cyclops is born. For Biskup it represents an actor that he can use for whatever he needs, he calls him “the helper”: “ I think what man does in a lot of situations is, he uses God as an excuse to do things that are really horrible, so the image of the eye of God in a picture where these peolpe are killing each other is about these people trying to make it alright, and so the “helper” to me, because it’s one eyed, he kind of feels like a symbol of this abomination that is created when you lie to yourself, when you’re trying to prove that what you’re doing is ok but you don’t really believe it, you create a monster. You turn yourself into a monster.”

When trying to define his work terms like barroque modernism, modern pop, pop surrealism or cartoon modernism show up but when asked about it Biskup easily answers: “The work defines itself”. And so it is, the message has been sent and it has reached its goal, the exhibition was a success and the book, especially done for this occasion, was bought by many.

Talking about future plans Biskup advances something about a carrousel inside a museum, but that will take a while, for the moment he seems happy with this experience and hopes to return to Spain for, who knows, new collaborations.

Ana Neto

Entry Filed under: Miscellaneous