Tiko Kerr
b. 1953, Edmonton, Alberta
CV
Tiko Kerr is a Canadian artist who has developed his artistic processes in Vancouver since the early 1980’s. Kerr attended the University of Calgary and graduated with a degree in Biological Science, which he believes has enhanced his ability to translate the 3-dimensional world into 2 dimensions.
Kerr has been commissioned by The City of Vancouver, the BC Centre for Excellence, Vancouver Opera, The Vancouver Symphony, the Celebration of Light and The Vancouver Sun Run. He has collaborated with Ballet British Columbia, painting in performance on 2 projects and was commissioned to create sets for “Boy Wonder”, Canada’s first original 3 act ballet, again working with Ballet British Columbia, and with Touchstone Theatre and Vancouver New Music. He was commissioned to create the sets for another theatre production of “Marion Bridge” at The Kay Meek Arts Centre in 2018. He did an Artist Residency at the Brodsky Centre for Innovative Printmaking at Rutgers University, another at the West End Community Center in Vancouver, where he created 3 murals and more recently, another outdoor wall mural in 2018 for the Kitsilano 4th Avenue Business Association. Kerr has been Guest Artist twice for the Paradise Valley Artists for Kids Summer Camp and is active in teaching and lecturing. Recent exhibitions include a solo show at The Gordon Smith Gallery of Canadian Art in North Vancouver, BC and a group show at the Grosvenor Building in West Vancouver, BC.
He is a visual artist whose 35 year long exhibition history includes fervent explorations into performance, set and mural design and social activism. Kerr’s abstract paintings and works on paper explore his interest in the consumption of images, cultural motifs and authorship.
Often beginning as paper collages cut from artists’ monographs and interspersed with personal ephemera, Kerr’s work relies on a kind of cross between surrealist and pop art sensibilities in their automatic and irreverent mashups of high and low culture. The resultant work with its immediacy of gesture and free association, evoke spatial and figurative illusions which encourage viewers to reconsider their relationship to the familiar.
CV
Tiko Kerr is a Canadian artist who has developed his artistic processes in Vancouver since the early 1980’s. Kerr attended the University of Calgary and graduated with a degree in Biological Science, which he believes has enhanced his ability to translate the 3-dimensional world into 2 dimensions.
Kerr has been commissioned by The City of Vancouver, the BC Centre for Excellence, Vancouver Opera, The Vancouver Symphony, the Celebration of Light and The Vancouver Sun Run. He has collaborated with Ballet British Columbia, painting in performance on 2 projects and was commissioned to create sets for “Boy Wonder”, Canada’s first original 3 act ballet, again working with Ballet British Columbia, and with Touchstone Theatre and Vancouver New Music. He was commissioned to create the sets for another theatre production of “Marion Bridge” at The Kay Meek Arts Centre in 2018. He did an Artist Residency at the Brodsky Centre for Innovative Printmaking at Rutgers University, another at the West End Community Center in Vancouver, where he created 3 murals and more recently, another outdoor wall mural in 2018 for the Kitsilano 4th Avenue Business Association. Kerr has been Guest Artist twice for the Paradise Valley Artists for Kids Summer Camp and is active in teaching and lecturing. Recent exhibitions include a solo show at The Gordon Smith Gallery of Canadian Art in North Vancouver, BC and a group show at the Grosvenor Building in West Vancouver, BC.
He is a visual artist whose 35 year long exhibition history includes fervent explorations into performance, set and mural design and social activism. Kerr’s abstract paintings and works on paper explore his interest in the consumption of images, cultural motifs and authorship.
Often beginning as paper collages cut from artists’ monographs and interspersed with personal ephemera, Kerr’s work relies on a kind of cross between surrealist and pop art sensibilities in their automatic and irreverent mashups of high and low culture. The resultant work with its immediacy of gesture and free association, evoke spatial and figurative illusions which encourage viewers to reconsider their relationship to the familiar.
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This publications centers around Tiko Kerr's new body of work on Plexiglass, inspired by the ubiquitousness of Plexiglass since the onset of the pandemic. Available for purchase here |
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Tiko Kerr | Otoniya J. Okot Bitek
If becomes when
at Pendulum Gallery
August 21 – September 22, 2023
Tiko Kerr is a local artist who since the 1980’s, has been an important figure in the Vancouver cultural scene through his artmaking and community activism. Kerr’s work is fundamentally informed by how he personally sees the world and the way human vision functions to interpret the world.
This multi-part installation derives from Kerr’s long-time interest in collage informed by his practice as a painter. One component reflects his recent explorations of the multi-layered plexiglass wall reliefs of the last few years; another are unique large works that combine collage, digital printing, and painting, which focus attention on the textures and markings created during the collage process enhanced by the application of additional collage elements on the surface of the work. Also featured is a new sculptural piece, combining elements of collage, drawing and sculpture, and standing over 8’ tall.
A site-specific series, undertaken in collaboration with poet Otoniya J. Okot Bitek - adiasporic writer and academic based in Kingston, Ontario – brings together the two artists in a work painted, collaged and drawn onto large vinyl sheets and suspended in front of an enlarged collage, printed on canvas and hung on the wall behind. The text and markings on the vinyl sheets are read in combination with the large collage work, and the shifting of the viewer’s position and the slight fluttering of the vinyl sheets creates a dynamic visual experience enhanced by the shifting natural light falling into the Gallery throughout the day.
Tiko Kerr is a local artist who since the 1980’s, has been an important figure in the Vancouver cultural scene through his artmaking and community activism. Kerr’s work is fundamentally informed by how he personally sees the world and the way human vision functions to interpret the world.
This multi-part installation derives from Kerr’s long-time interest in collage informed by his practice as a painter. One component reflects his recent explorations of the multi-layered plexiglass wall reliefs of the last few years; another are unique large works that combine collage, digital printing, and painting, which focus attention on the textures and markings created during the collage process enhanced by the application of additional collage elements on the surface of the work. Also featured is a new sculptural piece, combining elements of collage, drawing and sculpture, and standing over 8’ tall.
A site-specific series, undertaken in collaboration with poet Otoniya J. Okot Bitek - adiasporic writer and academic based in Kingston, Ontario – brings together the two artists in a work painted, collaged and drawn onto large vinyl sheets and suspended in front of an enlarged collage, printed on canvas and hung on the wall behind. The text and markings on the vinyl sheets are read in combination with the large collage work, and the shifting of the viewer’s position and the slight fluttering of the vinyl sheets creates a dynamic visual experience enhanced by the shifting natural light falling into the Gallery throughout the day.
Respair
at Monica Reyes Gallery
February 11 - March 18, 2023 | STRATHCONA
Tiko Kerr chose the title RESPAIR, which means “a return to hope after a period of despair” for his latest exhibition because it is a timely description of society’s move back to optimism after our pandemic experience.
Kerr is continuing his ongoing investigations into the subtleties of perception with his “shadow poems”, abstract plexiglass wall sculptures where shapes that are suspended in space explore the tension that exists in the space between the foreground and the background, what is seen and what actually exists.
The forms appear, drawing us in very closely, then dissolve, pushing us way out, giving the illusion that the pieces are living, breathing.
These works share a profound commonality with the lyrical improvisations of jazz and poetry.
Kerr is continuing his ongoing investigations into the subtleties of perception with his “shadow poems”, abstract plexiglass wall sculptures where shapes that are suspended in space explore the tension that exists in the space between the foreground and the background, what is seen and what actually exists.
The forms appear, drawing us in very closely, then dissolve, pushing us way out, giving the illusion that the pieces are living, breathing.
These works share a profound commonality with the lyrical improvisations of jazz and poetry.
Tiko Kerr, Guston Cha-Cha II, 2022, Relief Wall Sculpture, Paper collage and drawing on 3 plexiglass, 17 x 17 in (framed)
By Helena Wadsley
After my conversation with Tiko Kerr about his upcoming exhibition of brand-new work, during which he told me that he makes his collages while listening to jazz, particularly Duke Ellington, I began to listen to some of Ellington’s music myself. Just like Ellington, Kerr has fast and slow pieces, collages loaded with complexity and collages that are elegantly minimal. There are layers to his process that balance fast and slow, just as jazz music does.
During the pandemic Kerr began creating layered plexiglass pieces. While we quickly became accustomed to plexiglass fences between us, they also connote invisible barriers, the unseen but more profound effects of our isolation. The body of work, playing with three dimensions in a two-dimensional format, reinforced how we see, how we perceive depth and relationships in artwork and elsewhere. He continues to be inspired by the spatial potential offered by layered plexiglass and its ability to allow shifting light to affect the compositions, which are aptly titled Shadow Poems. Kerr began many of these works by cutting up drawings from as far back as his art school days. He snips into figurative sketches, keeping only the most eloquent lines and organizing them organically into new compositions; the only new marks are made by a pair of scissors, but the significance of the already existing marks is transformed.
I Am What I Want is a poetic description of the unique moment we are in. We are exiting the pandemic, at least the worst of it, but the climate crisis weighs on our future. Each piece is anchored visually, nestled into its surroundings, yet the separation of layers also evokes a floating or uplifting sensation echoing his desire to convey optimism and joy. There is both weight and weightlessness.
For the Eradication of Incurable Sadness, in black, white, and ochre is a good example of Kerr’s intentions. Swift lines of charcoal lead the eye while the earth tones ground the shapes. From every angle, shadows are visible. Organized chaos reflects his playful mood, which is passed to the viewer.
Can we be more empathic if we are more aware of sensory stimuli that is not based on imitation of the real world? I believe this is what Kerr is aiming for. Without a doubt, the world needs more empathy. Figurative work leads us more directly into empathy with the subject. In looking at abstract work, the mind seeks meaningful connections, but when perception becomes untethered from figuration, the mind is free to wander, possibly even into the spiritual or metaphysical.
Guston Cha Cha uses pink, the signature colour of Philip Guston, reminding us of an artist who began as an abstract painter but turned his back to the art world when he began painting figuratively. Kerr has done the opposite, so it is a fitting gesture that he acknowledges another artist who took a 180-degree turn. Earlier in Kerr’s career, he was known for his expressive landscapes. Although his more recent collages have a very different look with their mostly monochromatic palettes, they are made almost entirely from fragments of previous works. This process of re-purposing, sloughing off the inessential matches the societal move towards a reduction in consumption. Kerr’s use of old drawings keeps one foot in the past while questioning what the future has to offer.
Like a jazz standard where the tunes are familiar but evolving over time, Kerr’s new works embrace the familiarity of history but also signify the changes we are living through.
Relief Wall Sculptures -Paper collage & drawing on 3 ply plexi 31 x 31 inches (framed)
Relief Wall Sculptures -Paper collage & drawing on 3 ply plexi 17 x 17 inches framed
Paper collage & drawing 17 x 17 inches framed
Politics of Proximity | Monica Reyes Gallery
January 29 - March 15, 2022
Video of Tiko Kerr's works filmed by John David James, 2022.
Mónica Reyes Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of "Poltics of Proximity", a solo show with Tiko Kerr. The term proximity, defined as "nearness in space, time, relationship" by the Oxford Dictionary, encompasses the essence of Tiko Kerr's works. This exhibition presents an insight into Tiko Kerr's artistic practice throughout his career. Showcasing works on canvas, collage and his latest exploration into the medium of plexi-glass. Different media but as intertwined as conceivable. Politics of proximity: proximity of space in-between the various layers of plexi, proximity of color, proximity of materiality, proximity of structure, proximity of forms, proximity among one another.
"POLITICS OF PROXIMITY" is a survey of work (in a variety of media) exploring the formal concerns of colour, structure and materiality of forms in the picture plane. But more importantly, it considers the implications of proximity between forms in space as a reflection of our own physical proximity to one another during our extraordinary contemporary moment." (Tiko Kerr)
Exhibition view "Politics of Proximity"
Conversation with Tiko Kerr about his show "Politics of Proximity"
A Conversation between Tiko Kerr and Barbara Pizzinini, filmed by John David James for Monica Reyes Gallery, 2022.
PLEXUS
January 9, 2021 - February 20, 2021
From his early paintings of landscapes, nature, and interiors; to his catalogue of buildings in the changing Vancouver cityscape, through his collage works and related paintings and on to the most recent body of abstractions on Plexiglass, Tiko Kerr’s work has been fundamentally about ‘seeing’; both how he personally sees the world and the ways the human visual system functions to interpret the world.
The Plexus works would be considered merely successful abstract works if produced on canvas, but with the expressionist marks set out over multiple layers, the paintings become a hybrid of painting, relief and sculpture, providing complexity and contradiction to works that use clear sheets of Plexiglass as both material and metaphor.
A man-made and intrinsically modern material, Plexiglass has a long history. Invented in Germany during the last century. Chemist Otto Röhm came up with the idea in 1901 but it took him another 30 years to figure out what to do with it. Low-cost and versatile, plastics immediately drew the attention of artists with a penchant for exploring new materials and techniques to develop revolutionary means of expression.
Plexiglass is a perfect expression of our contemporary moment – a modernist material repurposed for the age of the pandemic, a protective barrier that allows us to see but not physically connect. Cultural theorists note it foregrounds the visual sense at the expense of other senses such as touch, smell and sound.
Kerr focuses on the historical and contemporary cultural references of Plexiglass, informed by the properties of the material itself; particularly, its use as a transparent, yet solid surface on which to paint. He repurposes the Plexi sheet from a barrier to a window, one through which we connect to the action beyond, using a visually permeable surface to stack his imagery and radically activate colours, shapes and painterly actions.
These works all share the visual experience of looking through and into and in this way, they remind us of windows, aquariums, laboratory slides. They challenge us to locate the brush marks in space and to follow along with the rhythms and patterns of paint as they blend in and out, push forward and fall back. They contain literal depth rather than illusional depth and this pushes them into the realm of reliefs. Yet they are, pardon the pun, clearly paintings and it is the brush marks and colours that hold our attention.
Your eye continually pulls focus between the full image with all the layers combined and the individual strokes on each of the layers. It’s a bit like three-dimensional chess in the way your brain needs to fit things together into an image of two-dimensional space in order to understand how these works operate. While your brain is manipulating the conceptualization of the space, your eye is moving in and out of various depths of field, locating the brushstrokes in the space.
These layered paintings excite our visual sense through a reading of the individual marks in combination with the relationship of various colours in both two-dimensional and three-dimensional proximity. Blue, green, magenta, and orange dominate and the overall impact is one of harmony and balance.
The Black and White Plexus works function in a slightly different way than the colour ones. Kerr has said they are inspired by the feeling of reading newspapers; Kerr gets the analog version of The New York Times daily and the material graphic design of the paper underlays these paintings. It’s all there in Black and White, and we try to make sense of the information that is in front of us.
The B&W Plexi pieces conflate this idea of seeking out truth in the (news)paper with seeking out truth in a work of art – they are both blurred by layers of obfuscation and interference. In the B&W works we are keenly aware of what is front and what is behind; swashes of paint mixing and layered over each other or with detailed background layers. These are abstract works that have supercharged the expressionist gesture.
The horizontal collage pieces on Plexiglass are essentially monochromatic; transitional pieces between the collages that Kerr has developed over the past few years, and the painted works of Plexus. Utilizing paper segments cut from copies of Jack Shadbolt drawings attached to stacked Plexiglass sheets along with hand drawn and painted segments, they give literal depth to the works, being conceptually connected to wall reliefs.
They function as parallel investigations of space within the Plexus series, directly derived from his work in stage design, with solid elements that are set out in a way that allows the viewer to engage in the entire visual field contained in the work, relating to each other through pattern, texture and shape rather than colour and transparency. His involvement in theatre, and his experiences of designing for the stage, have allowed Kerr to apply ideas developed in his studio practice to real world, three dimensional spaces, albeit ones in which the point of view and position of the audience is physically controlled.
Today, after nearly three decades of being an artist, Kerr is driven and confident, each new body of work surprisingly, but logically, developing out of the works before. Kerr’s mastery of fitting things together, understanding intuitively what works and what doesn’t, has come through focused development of his artistic sensibility, long hours in the studio, and honing the skills and techniques needed to bring these works into being.
It’s fair to say that he has reached a rich late-middle period in his career, marked by the assimilation of a lifetime of experiences both inside and outside the art world, laying the groundwork for the last decades’ extensive experimentation of visual ideas and subject matter.
He has become fearless.
Chris Keatley, January 2021
The Plexus works would be considered merely successful abstract works if produced on canvas, but with the expressionist marks set out over multiple layers, the paintings become a hybrid of painting, relief and sculpture, providing complexity and contradiction to works that use clear sheets of Plexiglass as both material and metaphor.
A man-made and intrinsically modern material, Plexiglass has a long history. Invented in Germany during the last century. Chemist Otto Röhm came up with the idea in 1901 but it took him another 30 years to figure out what to do with it. Low-cost and versatile, plastics immediately drew the attention of artists with a penchant for exploring new materials and techniques to develop revolutionary means of expression.
Plexiglass is a perfect expression of our contemporary moment – a modernist material repurposed for the age of the pandemic, a protective barrier that allows us to see but not physically connect. Cultural theorists note it foregrounds the visual sense at the expense of other senses such as touch, smell and sound.
Kerr focuses on the historical and contemporary cultural references of Plexiglass, informed by the properties of the material itself; particularly, its use as a transparent, yet solid surface on which to paint. He repurposes the Plexi sheet from a barrier to a window, one through which we connect to the action beyond, using a visually permeable surface to stack his imagery and radically activate colours, shapes and painterly actions.
These works all share the visual experience of looking through and into and in this way, they remind us of windows, aquariums, laboratory slides. They challenge us to locate the brush marks in space and to follow along with the rhythms and patterns of paint as they blend in and out, push forward and fall back. They contain literal depth rather than illusional depth and this pushes them into the realm of reliefs. Yet they are, pardon the pun, clearly paintings and it is the brush marks and colours that hold our attention.
Your eye continually pulls focus between the full image with all the layers combined and the individual strokes on each of the layers. It’s a bit like three-dimensional chess in the way your brain needs to fit things together into an image of two-dimensional space in order to understand how these works operate. While your brain is manipulating the conceptualization of the space, your eye is moving in and out of various depths of field, locating the brushstrokes in the space.
These layered paintings excite our visual sense through a reading of the individual marks in combination with the relationship of various colours in both two-dimensional and three-dimensional proximity. Blue, green, magenta, and orange dominate and the overall impact is one of harmony and balance.
The Black and White Plexus works function in a slightly different way than the colour ones. Kerr has said they are inspired by the feeling of reading newspapers; Kerr gets the analog version of The New York Times daily and the material graphic design of the paper underlays these paintings. It’s all there in Black and White, and we try to make sense of the information that is in front of us.
The B&W Plexi pieces conflate this idea of seeking out truth in the (news)paper with seeking out truth in a work of art – they are both blurred by layers of obfuscation and interference. In the B&W works we are keenly aware of what is front and what is behind; swashes of paint mixing and layered over each other or with detailed background layers. These are abstract works that have supercharged the expressionist gesture.
The horizontal collage pieces on Plexiglass are essentially monochromatic; transitional pieces between the collages that Kerr has developed over the past few years, and the painted works of Plexus. Utilizing paper segments cut from copies of Jack Shadbolt drawings attached to stacked Plexiglass sheets along with hand drawn and painted segments, they give literal depth to the works, being conceptually connected to wall reliefs.
They function as parallel investigations of space within the Plexus series, directly derived from his work in stage design, with solid elements that are set out in a way that allows the viewer to engage in the entire visual field contained in the work, relating to each other through pattern, texture and shape rather than colour and transparency. His involvement in theatre, and his experiences of designing for the stage, have allowed Kerr to apply ideas developed in his studio practice to real world, three dimensional spaces, albeit ones in which the point of view and position of the audience is physically controlled.
Today, after nearly three decades of being an artist, Kerr is driven and confident, each new body of work surprisingly, but logically, developing out of the works before. Kerr’s mastery of fitting things together, understanding intuitively what works and what doesn’t, has come through focused development of his artistic sensibility, long hours in the studio, and honing the skills and techniques needed to bring these works into being.
It’s fair to say that he has reached a rich late-middle period in his career, marked by the assimilation of a lifetime of experiences both inside and outside the art world, laying the groundwork for the last decades’ extensive experimentation of visual ideas and subject matter.
He has become fearless.
Chris Keatley, January 2021
Image credit: Alan Somerville
"I’ve chosen to work on the modest medium of plexiglass at a time when it has taken on a new and important role as a transparent, protective barrier that can shield us from an insidious virus and, at the same time, isolates us from one another. It is also at this contemporary moment when we all are suffering under the omnipresent burden of distorted socio-political issues where transparency and truth can no longer be taken for granted.
These plexiglass works provide an opportunity to look closer and deeper, to explore networks in paint suspended mid-stroke and to challenge the authenticity of what we see." (Tiko Kerr)
These plexiglass works provide an opportunity to look closer and deeper, to explore networks in paint suspended mid-stroke and to challenge the authenticity of what we see." (Tiko Kerr)
IN CONVERSATION
Tiko Kerr speaks about his new body of work on plexiglass presented in the exhibition "PLEXUS" (2021)
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TIKO KERR He has been an advocate for many social causes ranging from health and children’s issues to education and housing. Tiko is a respected figure in our community and we thank him for sharing his thoughts on the COVID-19 situation. March 22, 2020 |
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In The News |
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"Tiko explores nearness in career-spanning solo exhibition, now showing", Stir Magazine, Feb. 2022
West Coast Curated reviews Tiko Kerr's solo exhibition "Politics of Proximity", Feb. 2022
"This solo show of Tiko Kerr's incredible work spans canvas, collage, and plexiglass. While we say collage, the term doesn't feel exactly right in the case of Kerr's work. Each contributed piece that he places comes together in such a way that it goes beyond the juxtaposed feeling that often comes with collage. It's almost like watching the amalgamation of an artist's influences in real-time. The way Kerr crafts his work, each shape and colour are in perfect balance while simultaneously conveying abstraction.The photos truly don't do justice. Seeing each piece in person, and viewing their different angles is the best way to consider the stunning harmony that Kerr creates."
"This solo show of Tiko Kerr's incredible work spans canvas, collage, and plexiglass. While we say collage, the term doesn't feel exactly right in the case of Kerr's work. Each contributed piece that he places comes together in such a way that it goes beyond the juxtaposed feeling that often comes with collage. It's almost like watching the amalgamation of an artist's influences in real-time. The way Kerr crafts his work, each shape and colour are in perfect balance while simultaneously conveying abstraction.The photos truly don't do justice. Seeing each piece in person, and viewing their different angles is the best way to consider the stunning harmony that Kerr creates."
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Stir Q&A: Tiko Kerr on the artistic process behind PLEXUS, by Gail Johnson for Stir
The prolific and renowned artist shares insight into his current exhibition at Mónica Reyes Gallery " [...] The exhibition’s title, Plexus, refers to an intricate network within a structure and alludes to the delicate structure of society as we work together to stay apart. Kerr’s work speaks to these collective experiences without spelling them out."
"TIKO KERR - Artist reflects on pandemic with vibrant paintings on plexiglass", by Helena Wadsley for Galleries West Magazine, Jan. 2021 "The Isolation Diaries: Visual artist Tiko Kerr", Georgia Straight, May 2020
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