The Full Story: A conversation with Tim Gardner and Stephen Borys

Tim Gardner (Canadian b. 1973). Nighttime Tobogganer (detail), 2023. watercolour on paper. 38.1 x 43.18 cm. Private collection. Photo: Serhii Gumenyuk.

The Full Story is Gardner’s first retrospective and largest exhibition to date with over 100 artworks on display. Exhibition curator, Dr. Stephen Borys was initially drawn to Gardner’s commitment to subject matter and medium. The artist frequently documents his family and friends in photorealism, affording the viewer sneak peeks into his life. Tim Gardner got his professional start here in Winnipeg, attending Fort Richmond Collegiate and the School of Art at the University of Manitoba before moving to New York City to pursue his MFA.

Below, enjoy this special conversation between Tim Gardner and Stephen Borys and see the exhibition on view at WAG-Qaumajuq.

SB: What is your first artmaking memory?

TG: The first time I remember drawing was first grade, venturing out with a drawing competition for school, and I drew a hockey goalie. I ended up coming in second place in the competition, which was in a school from kindergarten to grade 6. And that’s when I realized I had some potential and skill with drawing and was really encouraged.

SB: Were your parents interested in art?

TG: My Dad painted landscapes of the Rockies before I was born. I have a few of these works in my living room actually. His paintings were often of famous mountain scenes in the Rockies. They were oil paintings on those hard canvas boards, from the late sixties, done before he had a family. He also took art lessons when he was a kid; I think from Janet Middleton who was a student of Walter Phillips.

SB: You have mentioned the influence of your high school art teacher; and it seems you moved quite comfortably into the high school fine arts program when you relocated to Winnipeg.

TG: Yes, my high school art teacher was Allan Geske at Fort Richmond Collegiate, and he was pretty supportive of me. He would give me free time at lunch to use the art room, and that’s how I spent many lunch hours, drawing or working on my art projects from art class. And when it was time to apply to universities, he helped me to develop a portfolio for the university applications. So, all the work I’d been doing that year, he helped me put together for the big portfolio.

SB: When you got accepted in the School of Art at the University of Manitoba, did you have any idea then who you might be working with there?

TG: The person that I was expecting to work with was Ivan Eyre. He was the main drawing instructor, but then when I arrived, he had unfortunately just retired so I ended up working with Steve Gouthro which was great, I learned all the foundational drawing and design basics from Steve.

SB: Once you were settled in New York City, you mentioned having access to all the contemporary art shows. I imagine this also meant all of the museums and galleries.  I’ve gone through a number of interviews and essays on your time in New York, and many artists are referenced. To name a few: Zurbaran, Velasquez, Caspar David Friedrich, Edouard Manet, John Singer Sargent, Gerhard Richter, Eric Fischl, Attila Richard Lukács. How many of these artists were present in your thoughts when you started grad school. Did your time at Columbia expose you to a lot more?

TG: Most of the ones you mentioned, well certainly the dead artists, I was aware of from my undergrad studies, from books.  But when I moved to New York what changed was that I was really exposed to contemporary art. I mean, you could go see a John Curran exhibition or Eric Fischl. All the historical artists were now accessible in person at The Frick or The Met.

SB: You graduated from Columbia with your MFA in 1999. You were in a few Columbia student shows, and then you were given your first solo show at 303 Gallery in New York in 2000. And even before your solo show you were in a group show at 303. What an amazing timeline. How did it all happen?

TG: We had some group shows in the MFA program in the school of art and then a big MFA show on campus at the end of the second year. At the same time, I had gotten connected with 303 Gallery, through Collier Schorr.

SB: I like what you’ve said about being in the right place at the right time, “When I went to Columbia, figurative painting was really popular, work on paper was becoming popular, and the whole art world was obsessed with youth.”  In a way, all the things you’re focused on and working through all come together in New York.

TG: Yes, for sure. It was kind of a perfect storm with all those elements coming together and falling into place. The idea of using a secondary medium, watercolour, as a primary medium, was sort of novel then too, and I guess people were a little surprised by it and took a liking to it.

SB: And then you’ve also shared “You can mess up a whole painting with one mistake but that’s what I like about it, that element of risk.” Is there a spontaneity to that kind of work?

TG: Yes, that’s one of the things I enjoy about watercolour more than oils. The difference in the technique that I find is that oil is much more about, almost like drafting, where you’re building up your scene or your subject matter a little at a time. Then with watercolour there’s something about the interaction of the water and the pigment, where you have to figure out what’s going to happen in advance or, you know, just let the watercolour do its thing. So that’s the hard part of learning watercolour – letting the medium do what it’s going to do.

SB: Several writers have talked about your “your mastery of the medium” in terms of watercolour, and the fact that your obsessive use of it can actually be intimidating. But then there’s a statement – and one word – that has stayed with me:  unease.  Maybe it’s not the glue but it’s definitely the one thing that attracts me to your work. I don’t know these people you are painting, but there’s a strange familiarity, even a comfort.  And the result of looking – it’s rewarding, it’s pleasurable, and it’s, at times, comforting.  Another phrase I like describing your work: “charged with elegance and humour”.

TG: Yes, that’s something that John Kessler said to me, I think at one of my first crits at Columbia. He kind of looked me up and down, and said: “Tim, try not to take yourself so seriously”.  Maybe it was about my figurative paintings. It was good advice. But definitely an element of humour sometimes is important to my work, undermining my sense of seriousness.

Learn more about Tim Gardner and The Full Story in the upcoming curator tour with Dr. Stephen Borys, along with the launch of the exhibition catalogue on February 2. Tim Gardner: The Full Story is on view until April 7.