the kid belo

Love, Strength & Soul

Tim Okamura & TheKidBelo host a new body of work at Show & Tell Gallery in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Here is the Press release:

Show & Tell Gallery is proud to present the second collaborative exhibition from NYC based painter Tim Okamura and Calgary’s premier graffiti artist TheKidBelo (David Brunning) titled “Love, Strength, & Soul”.

Featuring several collaborative canvases as well as selected works by the individual artists, this exhibition investigates the thematic content of the title through Okamura’s gritty realism, and detailed depictions of inner-city subjects, and TheKidBelo’s boldly precise and often colorful architectural letter forms. At once complimentary and divergent, these two artists’ contrasting styles also serve to echo the wide variance found in the emotional associations with Love, Strength, and Soul – from subtle displays of altruism to resolute courage to introspective ponderance. Though both artists understand the possible interpretations in relation to these themes are boundless, they have found a starting point for their explorations within a decidedly urban context.

Tim Okamura continues to investigate identity, environment and contemporary iconography in the “Love, Strength, & Soul” series through a unique approach that combines an essentially academic approach to figure painting with collage, spray paint and mixed media. Okamura’s paintings simultaneously express interest in the individual captured on canvas, as well as the larger metaphor for human experience that can be found portrayed by the same subject. The idea of transmitting “Courage” or stoicism through the studied expression of a subject’s face or a particular posture, or finding the subtle glimmer in someone’s eye that communicates the elusive concept spirit or soulfulness is of utmost importance to him. Additionally, layers of visual elements that support more inconspicuous means of elucidating particular ideas in these paintings are often created as a result of an observation of the visual encounters on the streets of New York. The organic build-up of street signage, posters, random felt marker tags, stenciled street art, and more refined graffiti pieces that together form a complex cultural motif that Okamura often emulates on canvas through textural oil paint, rough-hewn collage, and spray cans.

TheKidBelo’s distinctive graffiti style elicits a visceral reaction that may or may not be in alignment with the literal definition of the words he employs as the basic building block for his spray-painted creations. Popular connotations associated with the word “Love”, for example, may be celebrated or cast aside in favor of a darker insight, as dictated by either the emotive qualities of a particular color choice, or the inherent characteristics of his letter forms, whether they are sharp and violent or more fluid and calming in rhythm and design. It is the interplay between the linguist, the colorist, and the draftsman who understands how perception can be affected by the idiosyncrasies of organic and geometric shapes that enables TheKidBelo is able to delve into the complex themes of this exhibition. His work manages to strike a balance between accessibility while still maintaining relevance in the street culture from which graffiti art originated.

When the words in the title of the exhibition “Love, Strength, & Soul” appear in the work of Tim Okamura and TheKidBelo, they are written in several different dialects – “Love” becomes the Spanish “Amor”, Strength becomes the Latin “Fortis”, and Soul is translated into the Swahili “Nafsi” – as a means of acknowledging the universal emotional resonance inherent in these paradigms of human experience regardless of language.

For sales and media inquires please contact: Show & Tell Gallery Director Simon Cole simon@showandtellgallery.com +1 647 347 3316

Tim Okamura & TheKidBelo Love, Strength, & Soul