statement

My work as an artist focuses on three quite different approaches to painting, all relating to one another, yet investigating my overall interest in the mergence or coexistence of abstraction and representation from completely different art historical vantage points.

The first being contemporary graffiti art using only spray paint and working under the moniker "Subone." The second body of work, which serves as a counterbalance to the bright colors and bold expressions of my large scale, speedy graffiti works, consists of small and delicate easel paintings, which are slow to produce a have a much more muted and subtle palette. Painted in oil on linen with very small brushes, these works allow me to slow down and refine the process of their physical, visual and intellectual construction. I believe a good painting is a beautiful, handcrafted, one of a kind object, which in some mysterious ways has a life of its own and holds within it a story, like a safe does valuables. No reproduction can ever replace the aura an original painting can possess. Growing up in Heidelberg, Germany, the second oldest university city in Europe, I came across many historic paintings without having to look for them. Even as a kid I was very aware of the powerful energy that time had created, aside from the work's meaning, which is why I oftentimes make my paintings look old, thereby insinuating them to be predictions, even prophecies about contemporary issues from times past.

Visually inspired by the language of 18 and 19th century historic painting, especially British works, surrealism and contemporary abstraction, all my paintings deal with life today. My personal experiences, politics, social commentary and art historical references are condensed into a somewhat humorously simplified scenario and presented to the viewer as an intricately constructed, stage-like scene that oftentimes is not what it seems. The works' titles serve an important role in that they are necessary to understand the paintings' intended meanings and oftentimes give them a humorous twist by a play of words.

bio

born: 1976, Heidelberg, Germany

education:

Maine College of Art, BFA, 2000-2002
School of Visual Arts, BFA,1998-2000

selected awards/honors

Nominated for Portland's Best Graffiti/Street Artist, 2008, 2009, 2010
Principal Artist for the "Artists in Maine Communities Grant" from the Maine Arts Commission, though the National Endowment for the Arts. The project was titled: S.U.B.O.N.E: An Urban Mural Project.
Voted one of the most influential people under 35 in Portland as a graffiti artist and painter, The Portland Phoenix, Maine, 2003

selected publications

Contemporary Realism, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, 4th edition, p. 21
Words and Images, Featured interview, University of Southern Maine Press, 2006
CF Mueller, Rhetorik, The Visual Language of Art, p.200-202, 2006
Manifest Creative Research and Drawing Center, Magnitude 7, 2009

selected solo or two-person exhibits

Galerie p13, More than Meets the Eye, Heidelberg, Germany, 2009/10
McCoy Gallery at the Rogers Center for the Arts, Tim Clorius-New Paintings, Merrimack, Mass, 2009
Sanctuary, Hired Hand for the Hanging Judge, Portland, Maine, 2007
Portland City Hall, Tim Clorius-Paintings, Portland, Maine, 2006

selected group shows

Contemporary Realism, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, Indiana, 2010
Summer Salon, Aucocisco Galleries, Portland, Maine, 2010
Wichita Center for the Arts, National Small Oil Painting Exhibition, Wichita, Kansas, 2008
Gatorade Artist Collaboration, with seven nationally recognized urban artists, shown at various locations, 2008