Tim Biskup’s current exhibition is a collision of Pop culture references, with early Atari-like geometric renderings offset by obsessive layers of abstracted ornamentation with an outsider edge. But past the onslaught of color and characters, is there anything underneath the flash of neon chartreuse, blues, grays and hot pink of the first counter-cultural impression? The mural sized painting, “A Subtle Advertisement For Mind-Numbing Pain,” suggests that there is. The artist’s background includes animation, illustration, graphic design, punk rock, two years with Otis College and fabricating collectibles. Those myriad influences are not surprising to those familiar with the SoCal native’s work. The rapid-fire assortment of figures in “A Subtle Advertisement” suggests something about the hyper-pace of contemporary life in general, and the spectacle of the media in particular. The complexity of overlapping forms and figures — look long enough and another will pop into focus — suggest the assembled montages and fast-cutting quick takes of television editing caught in a single image. Other works on view combine some of the artist’s trademark tiki-abstraction and planar geometric approach to figuration; and while the work might walk a tightrope between pop and commercial, it also reflects the vast influence each one has on the other.
Originally published in ArtScene (Nov 2013)