timothy nimmo

One of the key words I use in describing my work is, “transition”. The conscious concept of transition that inspired me most directly was the art of the ancient Scythian tattoos and artifacts blended with contemporary abstract sculpture. The twisting of many of the Scythian images directly influenced my seminal sculpture, Birth of the Sacred Stag in both style and concept. The style of this piece (and all of my work) is one of smooth transitions of form and line to augment the concept. I spend much time in sculpting composing the piece to move fluidly through all three dimensions; such that there is never a bias towards one axis of height, width or depth. My mentor taught that a good sculpture will have neither 1 preferred view nor any 1 unfavorable view. The viewer should always be subconsciously walking around the sculpt, or turning it and never being able to settle on one point of view.

Conceptually, I believe good art is never completely about the subject matter. The subject is an apt vehicle for a great concept. (Looking to art history for example; Michelangelo`s Pieta was not simply a depiction of an historic event. It was about sacrifice, loss, the intimacy of a mother and son during death- and many other such larger parts of the human experience than the subject matter itself.) For me, again I play upon this overall idea of transition and it`s meanings and manifestations with the vehicle of animals: transitions of spiritual birth, transitions of physical matter to life energy, of flesh to spirit, and transitions of life into death.

Often I view my work as a conceptual full circle- The inspirations are those of ancient art, which is interpreted with a modern style, then finished in such a manner as to make it look like the creation of an ancient culture. I always want the subliminal question in the viewers mind, “Is this a modern work of art or an artifact of some ancient undiscovered people from antiquity?”

My physical approach to my work is a reflection of my belief that good sculpture generally is a marriage of concept, style, and execution. While much of the work is extremely precise, there are also imperfections which are intentionally left. I embrace many “defects” other artists would not; and refuse to allow certain procedures other artists would not be bothered by. There are several reasons for this. First, I see a piece of art as having a life. It is physically born of its mother, the mold. It goes through the trauma of being cast in parts and assembled. These I find an apt metaphor of the life narrative of every physical being. One example I often use is that of a human navel- it is a useless vestige of our natural life cycle, a scar that we all bear. With the sculpture- there are slight traces of where the mold was split open into halves, slight pits or imperfections lodged in the metal, perhaps a tiny air bubble in a deep area. I erase the traces of most of them and never allow them to be obviously distracting, but I believe a few need to be left to pay homage to the life of the sculpture. Second, If a sculpture is extremely precise to the point of near perfection; I believe the overall concept of the work would change. Near perfection subconsciously says to the viewer, “Machine like”. Intentional small casting artifacts and visible subtle finger strokes say instead, “Look at what someone was moved to make, how long they labored, how hard it was for them… this must have been important for someone.”

The reason for my attempts at such subliminal elements is this: To create a dialog between the sculpture and viewer. I believe good art does not tell the viewer what or how to think. Neither should it be so vague as to not connect with anything in the viewer`s experience. I believe good art creates questions in the mind of the viewer, and then hints at possible answers. I wish those looking at my work to take part in a conversation with the sculpture. “Why does it have these cloud like swirls incorporated into its anatomy? Hummm, those do remind me of clouds, and the hooves remind me of lightening… the horns like thunderheads… AHHH! The coloration is that of a stormy cloud, and the base resembles a mountain peak. This looks like the view of the mountains I had when I was arriving in Colorado… and yes, it IS a big horned sheep and those live up in the mountains, don`t they. Yes all of this energy of mountain and sky, coming together to make a great moutain animal, I see that!”

Always, I try to create a synthesis between my love of nature and my respect of the great artists who have come before. As a student of the process of creation and art history I have never lost my sense of wonder at great art to communicate to me and move me to greater levels of awareness. Whether it be individual artists like Brancusi, Manship, Marini, Moore, Van Gogh, or the art of antiquity like Scythian, Celtic, Oriental, Egyptian, African; I am always amazed at the number of ways our species has come up with to see, interpret and convey their views of life and the nature of it. I find these voices resonate with me and my sense of wonderment of my world; both my inner world and the universe with out. I seek out and embrace these influences, and consciously draw on them for the base substances of my sculpting. As a sculptor friend once said to me, “Those who claim their art is truly original simply can not remember where they saw the source of their inspiration.” I hope only to credit my sources properly and remain open to their wisdom. I see the work of man throughout the ages and the work we do, I do, now as a dialog of all humanity crossing all barriers of language, culture, and time.