Tim Okamura, Royal Profile (2009), oil and spray paint on canvas [Douglas Udell Gallery, Vancouver BC, Jun 6-20]

Tim Okamura, Girl with Silver Earrings (2009), mixed media on panel [Douglas Udell Gallery, Vancouver BC, Jun 6-20]

Tim Okamura is a contemporary Canadian painter known for his depiction of African-American and minority subjects in urban settings. His work is like a black history month crossed with Attila Richard Lukacs and Chris Woods. Okamura graduated from the Alberta College of Art and Design in 1991 before moving to New York to obtain his MFA in Illustration as Visual Journalism at the School of Visual Arts. He was a 2004 recipient of the Fellowship in Painting from the New York Foundation for the Arts.

Central to Okamura's subject matter are urban life, hip-hop, excerpts from art history and world mythology. His powerful images combine classical oil painting techniques with spray painted graffiti, and modern graphics with depictions of contemporary urban environments. He writes, “I continue to be inspired simultaneously by the disparate visual language of Rembrandt's dark portraits, the intense contemplation of Antonio Lopez Garcia, and ‘wild-style’ graffiti writers.”

Okamura's paintings have been widely exhibited in New York, including a Museum of Modern Art-curated exhibition at P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center, as well as The National Portrait Gallery in London, and The Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh. He was one of several artists to be shortlisted in 2006 for a proposed portrait of Queen Elizabeth of England. He currently resides in Brooklyn, New York.

www.douglasudellgallery.com

Mia Johnson