Timothy Anderson

Region: Pacific Coast

Fourteen years ago, after eighteen years of painting in oils, I lost my painting studio. At that point I began to draw in earnest. I soon realized that I didn't need to make each new drawing a narrative, which was how I had conceived my paintings. I set out to develop a process which would eliminate the need of a narrative at the start of each drawing.

In creating a drawing I cover the entire surface of the paper with a loose random matrix of lines. Though I am right handed these are created using my left hand , closing my eyes, and turning the paper. All of this is done in an attempt to relinquish as much control as possible. I then begin the process of pulling images out of the matrix. The images that I find are a combination of plant and animal life, machine parts, and human body parts. It is during the process of discovering these images that I make compositional decisions about where to look and how to organize the found imagery.

I decided long ago that art was never going to make me rich or famous, but if it stopped giving me joy I would no longer create it. To date it still gives me joy.