The Artist
My contemporary abstraction is a translation of memory and emotions. A personal visual language is formed from my intuitive choices of color, line, and composition. Gesture, energy, and movement are integral to each piece.
In my practice, I commingle traditional paint mediums with materials from “every day”: salt, sand, dirt, charcoal, foam, twine, and glass appear and disappear amidst layers of acrylic and oil paints - glues and papers. The process is experimental, playful, and cerebral.
My intention is to offer the viewer a positive experience - a chance to ponder, to engage deeply, and to follow the drips, the gestural marks, the lines, and the passages of color. If that creates joy, a meditative moment, the recall of space and time, or even a momentary escape, then I’ve achieved my goal.
Tim Gianelli is a Boston-based mixed media artist known predominantly for his expressive large-scale abstractions. His work can be found in collections all over the United States, as well as internationally. He currently resides in Cambridge, MA.
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT ME
"Tim Gianelli is acclaimed for his abstracted works that, vibrant in color and often large scale, playfully experiment with media and subject matter all while unlocking one’s emotions and fondest memories. Upon realizing that art was his passion, Gianelli began to teach himself techniques such as perspective, spatial relations and brushwork while sourcing inspiration from modern masters including Jackson Pollock, Mark Bradford and Mikael Brandrup. The artist now refers to his process as a visual language, rendered from his own personal memories and perceptions of life. While his compositions remain subject-less, Gianelli prefers to flood the surface of the canvas with an array of color combinations and forms, further encouraging the viewer to interact and conduct their own analysis on his abstract compositions.
Gianelli states that his intent is to offer the viewer a positive experience - a chance to ponder, to engage deeply, and to follow the drips, the gestural marks, through these passages of color. If that creates joy, a meditative moment, the recall of space and time, or even a momentary escape, then he's accomplished his goal.
As for the works selected for this collaborative presentation, the artist will be featuring his most prominent series titled "Hollow". The collection includes paintings that touch upon themes of his past travel, memories and emotions combined with his inspiration from "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow". He uses his painting as a language describing the memories and emotions that mean the most to him in his life. Growing up he was heavily influenced by Salem, MA and all of the lore surrounding the infamous Salem witch trials.
Gianelli classifies this three-part sequence of paintings as "action painting" due to his spontaneous and vigorous combination of sweeping brush strokes across the composition. He feels that the painting process overtakes his physical and allows him to only focus on the act of painting. He then continues to intentionally manipulate the original texture of the canvas by adding additional drips and spills of (acrylic) paint, resulting in a somewhat experimental, idiosyncratic painting."