(Free) Speech Balloon No.2

About (Free) Speech Balloon No.2

This contemporary portrait of a young Asian woman is by Canadian artist Tim Okamura.

Canadian artist Tim Okamura has been painting since he was a young child. He first used oil paints at age ten and took art classes with his father who enjoyed painting landscapes as a hobby. Drawn to figurative work while in school, Okamura soon began asking friends to pose for him. As a Japanese Canadian with biracial parents, he grew up with a world view that embraced diversity. He considers capturing the intimate stories of his subjects--people who are often underrepresented or misrepresented as a privilege, a ‘calling’. His unique visual language often combines the traditional realism of the old masters with the raw emotion of graffiti art. As in this arresting piece, the portrait of a young Asian woman looking directly at the viewer appears in one panel and the ‘balloon’ appears above her head in another.

Details in both panels illustrate the woman’s story—white flowers—lilies and roses suggesting innocence are in the balloon. A piercing in her lower lip is attached to a silver chain that is anchored in her hair. The pastel coloured background of each panel is highly textured with gestural brushstrokes and calligraphic markings. Okamura is known for his masterful and liberal use of impasto--a technique that involves applying paint in thick, expressive brushstrokes. This effect transforms the painting into a sculptural object and adds depth, emotion and movement.

Orange-red ‘flames’ appear on the edge of the balloon signifying perhaps both destruction and rebirth.

“I’m still excited about New York after thirty years. I can see a graffiti tag that excites me and I get a sense of joy from somebody who has a great hand style—its calligraphy and they’re putting it on a wall. On the same day I can go to the Met and see a Rembrandt painting.” Tim Okamura

“My first encounter with Tim Okamura’s work was in a small, dimly lit gallery in a Brooklyn museum in 2012. The moderate relief from his art’s build-up of paint gave me the impression of a physical body in the space, and—startled—I turned on the lights. The subject in Okamura’s work was so present it seemed to have just finished exhaling.” Jessica Laney, Arts journalist, Writer, Poet

Tim Okamura was born in Edmonton, Alberta. He studied at the Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary, where he earned his B.F.A. with Distinction. He continued his artistic studies at the School of Visual Arts in New York, graduating with an M.F.A. in Illustration as Visual Journalism in 1993 and took additional classes at the New York Academy of Art. Tim Okamura's painting career has attracted international attention and garnered him numerous awards. His artwork has graced the cover of Time magazine and has appeared in several motion pictures. In 2004, he was awarded the Fellowship in Painting from the New York Foundation for the Arts. He was also selected nine times for the esteemed BP Portrait Award Exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in London, England. In 2015, Okamura received a letter of commendation from then Vice President of the United States, Joe Biden, in honor of his work addressing issues of social justice and criminal justice reform. He has exhibited throughout North America, Europe and Asia, in numerous museums such as The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, The Brooklyn Museum, and August Wilson African American Cultural Center. Tim Okamura’s work can be found in both prestigious private collections and publicly in the permanent collections of The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, The New York Historical Society Museum, The Davis Museum at Wellesley College, The Alberta Foundation for the Arts, The Toronto Congress Center, and Standard Chartered Bank in London, England. Tim Okamura lives in New York City.