M o n i c a   T i n k e r
sculptor

to the gallery exhibit

I happened upon this artist's work while touring the galleries during a weekend event.  I was immediately engrossed in this work, realizing that this was something exceptional by a very creative artist.  Although modest in scale, the suggestive mastery of expression and metaphor was substantially real in a physical sense.  

It's not unusual for another artist to recognize such works as outstanding even in the midst of other more ambitious and provocative pieces showcased in the same space. To me, all else appeared to be eye candy by comparison that evening.

The works produced in that show are intimate poems and declarations of place.  Each work expresses with a perfect sculptural intonation, something obscure but understood by the understanding, a real truth.  I knew right away that whatever was stated was an absolute although it wasn't evident in an obvious way.  This is one of the mysteries of art when one can understand what is not obviously understood.  

Whenever an artist creates works that reflect an intimate interest and familiarity, chances are that such pieces will have a quality about them that exhibits a kind of correctness. This is somewhat different than results produced by  intellectual problem solving regarding abstract principles. More often than not this may explain how or why some works have an unassailable truth that is intuitively embraced.

I had no history of Monica Tinker or her work but when I could smell the oil and seawater, sense the the appearance of rusted hulls, the battered seawalls and breakwaters, the shipyard detrious that litters the waterfront I knew that this was what the work was about.  Not something romanticized or glamourized but something that is simply stated as an everyday event.  I've been there in my youth and understood the simple reality expressed.  

Well, it may not be unusual to express one's reaction to place, but to do so in a sculptural form combined with visual references of line and color, that is something special.  To do it well is even more special and that is certainly the case with this artist.

The few drawings also included in the original show are spectacular and I would love to include in an additional exhibit here, those works someday.

 Chris Ray - exhibition curator

Photography by Tim Barnwell

(the artist does not have a personal website at this time)

to the gallery exhibit