Timothy High
Flatbed Press Gallery
through October 15
Tim High, a printmaking professor at UT, says, “Great art… is borne out of
an articulate and impassioned conversation between the eye, the intellect, and
the heart.” The conversation generated by his own work is a lively one. No one
is excluded. You like color? He has it. You like pencil lines applied with
skill? He knows how to draw. You like graphic imagery that evokes old-time
posters yet leaves you scratching your head as to what the picture is about?
Has he got a mermaid for you! You like translating French verse and studying
Biblical passages printed upside down and sideways? Flatbed Press Gallery is
the place to be.
The technical complexity of Tim High’s new prints conveys the intricacy of his
ideas even before the images come into focus. For his “Baudelaire Suite,” High
employs silk-screen printing, sews textured papers together, enhances the
papers’ translucency, and draws with Prismacolor pencils on each monoprint. (A
monoprint is a unique printed image based on a template that can be re-used,
sometimes in combination with other media, to make similar but not matching
prints.) High has committed himself to producing seven monoprints for each
image. All this effort is in service of the artist’s fascination with
Baudelaire’s “Les Fleurs du Mal.” High makes it look easy. Or rather, he allows
the viewer to apprehend his work on a variety of levels. His pictures can be
enjoyed in a purely sensory way or used to conduct a polemic on man’s existence
in the universe.
In my favorite monoprint, High adheres his image to a screen in such a way
that it relaxes on the paper as though applied with a Chinese brush and ink. As
serigraphy is most often recognized for its hard edges, unsubtle colors, and a
surface texture limited by the fineness of the screen through which ink is
squeegeed, these prints at Flatbed are a wonderful surprise. The exhibition
also includes Prismacolor and enamel drawings in High’s “Vanity Fair
Series,” which are more typical of the artist’s precise style. They’re
technically perfect and tight, tight, tight. He describes this series as
“bringing into a focus an intimate analysis of our contemporary cultural
experience, as framed by current and prevalent examples of human folly and
continued erosion of the moral and cultural landscape of our nation.” This
corresponding rigidity of image and idea may be why I prefer looking at the
prints. — Rebecca S. Cohen
Gee, I wish I’d paid better attention during the Baudelaire lectures in my
college English classes. A little less napping during Sunday school wouldn’t
have hurt, either. I might have felt less dense as I viewed “Baudelaire Suite,”
a group of monoprints by UT printmaking professor Tim High. Luckily, High’s
explanations of these works, which are full of Baudelarian and Biblical
references, saved me from embarrassment as I tried to decipher their meanings.
These colorful works are complex in content and technique, as in “To The
Reader,” which blends some racy romance ads, quotes from the Bible, a screaming
skeleton, the Grim Reaper, and several butterflies; at the bottom is an excerpt
from Baudelaire’s “Au Lecteur.” Heavy stuff. Once you read High’s detailed
accompanying statement, the components’ relationships become a bit more clear,
though the piece remains intense and somewhat dark.
Also featured in the show is High’s “Vanity Fair Series,” Prismacolor
and enamel drawings presenting contemporary social ills in the setting of
nocturnal carnival scenes. Again, High’s intentions and messages are lofty and
involved, covering issues from society’s obsession with physical beauty to teen
sex. “Unanticipated Misgivings,” depicting an attractive teen-age couple
looking pensive and uncomfortable outside a vibrant funhouse, touches on High’s
notion that modern teens too often shoulder adult decisions and
responsibilities.
High’s combination of social and scholarly thoughts with complex technique
results in the kind of work that makes you think — or makes you feel you
should think — about issues outside the realm of art. Heck, I might even take
a class in Baudelaire. — Cari Marshall
This article appears in September 27 • 1996 and September 27 • 1996 (Cover).