TIMOTHY J. CLARK (b. 1951), Mexican Bicycle, 2018–20, watercolors on paper, 30 x 22 in., available through the artist
TIMOTHY J. CLARK (b. 1951), "Mexican Bicycle," 2018–20, watercolor on paper, 30 x 22 in., available through the artist

Watercolors on View:
“Timothy J. Clark: Here & Abroad”
Hilbert Museum of California Art
Orange, California
chapman.edu/arts
Through April 17, 2025

Best known for his sparkling watercolors, Timothy J. Clark is the subject of a solo exhibition at Chapman University’s Hilbert Museum of California Art. Titled “Here & Abroad,” it highlights his interiors, urban landscapes, and portraits, created near home and around the world. The project has been co-curated by Hilbert director Mary Platt and independent scholar Marcus B. Burke.

Clark’s is a California success story. Born in Santa Ana and now based 30 miles away in Capistrano Beach, he was hooked on art from his first class. He found teachers who helped him look at art from traditional and modernist perspectives: at 18, he entered Los Angeles’s Art Center College of Design, and later the Chouinard Art Institute shortly before it merged into what is now CalArts. Clark capped his education with an M.F.A. at California State University, Long Beach.

At age 13, working as a delivery boy for a pharmacy, Clark delivered prescriptions by bicycle to culturally diverse neighborhoods — and he loved it. His forays into the barrios have endured, and his respect for Hispanic culture (plus his reasonable skill in speaking Spanish) have opened doors that enabled him to savor their customs.

In 1970, Clark and his mentor in drawing, Jess Rubio, went to Guaymas, Mexico, to experience the Mardi Gras-type celebration Quema de Malhumor (Burn Your Pet Peeves). They wound up getting arrested on a specious charge, but when they created drawings of every jail guard and the police chief, they were freed. “My ability to focus intently on the drawing grew more in those few hours than in years of training,” Clark recalls.

Clark has brought his brush and easel to many places, including Mexico, South America, the Iberian Peninsula and Europe, India, Southeast Asia, and throughout the U.S. Co-curator Marcus Burke notes, “Prominent in these travels are the Hispanic locations, which have reinforced his experience from childhood… Instead of seeking only the exotic and the picturesque, he seeks to affirm a sense of common cultural values. [He is] a traveler artist in total command of an artistic medium made to travel.”

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