Tim Harper
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(415) 994-2585
When I was in high school, I drew a picture of Jimi Hendrix, left it on the kitchen table. The next time I saw it, my dad had put it in a frame and hung it in his den. I started thinking about art right about then. Winslow Homer was the first painter I admired. He was an illustrator for Harpers Bazaar during the civil war, but it was his watercolor paintings from the Bahamas that captivated me. The detail in his work is just amazing and I started to watercolor. From there, it was the Impressionists and then the Fauves. Artists that leave a smile on your face and a wow in your thoughts. The Fauves. I believed that was the style I was meant to be in. Loved the colors, brush stroke. Andres Derain, Dufy, Vlaminck. I wanted to paint everything I saw. I took painting classes in college, University of Florida, but went straight into work after college and didn’t think about painting. I took a job with Newsweek Magazine and they moved me to San Francisco and I started painting whenever I could. I am trying very hard, sometimes it weighs on me, but I love art and painting so much.
My latest body of work is called Urban Distraction. This series is a fun, colorful and innovative approach to capturing the culture and lifestyle of cities around the world. I load these paintings up with energy, color and excitement. Each piece will brighten up a room and you can enjoy the color burst from afar or look up close for a lot of interesting detail.
I have been heavily influenced by Romare Bearden, the collage artist from Harlem. The SFMOMA had a full floor exhibit of his work many years ago and his work opened my mind to new possibilities of what is possible with mixed media while still keeping the Fauve theory of color and form.
People who buy my paintings usually say that it makes them happy and that is my ultimate goal, to put a smile on someone's face, hopefully for generations to come. I hope people enjoy my paintings as much as I enjoy painting them.
