Tim Kapustka’s remarkable still-life prints are sufficient unto themselves. But they also open two important doors. One connects the Durango artist to the illustrious European genre of still-life painting. The other points to today’s clean and spare modernism. For an exhilarating journey that links the history of a mysterious tradition to contemporary computer-generated imagery, stop by Studio &.
Kapustka co-founded Studio & in 2010. His most recent solo show, “In Between Everything,” may be over, but several prints can still be seen at Durango’s innovative, tucked-away space at 1027 Main Ave.
Look closely and you’ll see quiet narratives set in motion by simple objects. Kapustka’s archival prints are meditations on the ordinariness of objects and their emotional resonance.
At heart, Kapustka is a storyteller. His prints and his well-crafted artist’s statement make that clear. Kapustka invites viewers to “take a second glance, notice and ponder the overlooked, the mundane, the forgotten.”
“It all depends,” is the title Kapustka has given to his depiction of ordinary keys. Seen from above, a skeleton key lies in the foreground and a batch of contemporary car-and-house keys sit mid-ground. The pair offers a vision of old and new and creates a then-and-now dialogue.
Yesterday’s and today’s keys are rendered carefully through the program Adobe Illustrator. Skilled practitioners create shapes and shadows with a mouse just as traditional artists use pencils, charcoal or brushes to outline objects and create the illusion of space. The medium lends itself to soft edges, not crisp outlines, and Kapustka seems to prefer a narrow color palette of gray, gray-green, ivory and muted reds. Traditional oil painters in the genre have relished high contrasts, reflections, ridges of impasto or a dry brush dragged over dark colors. Not here. Kapustka’s enigmatic space, soft edges and quiet color palette serve his nostalgic domain perfectly.
If you go
WHAT: The Art of Tim Kapustka.
WHERE: Studio &gallery, 1027 Main Ave.
WHEN: Hours: 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday to Friday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, noon-5 p.m. Sunday.
MORE INFORMATION: Email artideasprogress@gmail.com, call (773) 263-1279 or visit www.anddurango.com.
If you’re old enough to remember skeleton keys, you know their history and maybe people who used them, a father or grandfather? Today, we all relate to a pocket or purse full of car keys. So, Kapustka has given us two objects, possibly two personas, an implied time frame, a quiet space, and an invitation to linger and reflect.
When asked about the spark that led to his general selection of objects, Kapustka remained circumspect.
“I want the prints to speak for themselves,” he said.
And that’s the beauty of still-life as an art genre. We are not neutral to objects. The history of religious relics is one extreme. Another is the emotion evoked by a wallet, a ring or a faded driver’s license that belonged to a beloved family member.
Still-life is a branch of art history that contemplates objects. From ancient Egyptian tomb paintings filled with depictions of items needed for the afterlife to the magnificent Vanitas paintings of the 17th century with their skulls, snuffed candles and decaying fruit to remind us of the brevity of life, still-life painting has always been rife with meaning.
An inherent observer, Kapustka said he simply practices “the art of noticing. I’m enamored with objects. I believe they have souls. When I see a rack of butcher paper, I’m back in Chicago and the Polish community. That object is my link. I’m a champion of yesteryear.”
Judith Reynolds is an arts journalist and member of the American Theatre Critics Association.
