Artist Statements from the
You Still Can't Get There From Here + Journeys
exhibit
click on artist name to view statement
Tim Menees
STATEMENT
During the three
decades I drew political cartoons for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette I also
dabbled Sunday-painter style at watercolors, oils and acrylics -- old stores,
landscapes, a portrait or two. All quite serious. My friend, Pittsburgh artist
Bob Qualters, looked over some of my work. Bob has hefty credentials: The
Carnegie Museum recently bought one of his paintings. Holding up a landscape of
mine, he said, like a professor to a student, "Well, it doesn’t look like you’re
having much fun."
His
critique was succinct and perfect.
After
maybe twenty more years of landscapes and pubs, I had an epiphany: Paint what I
like and paint how I draw.
In the
autumn of 2006, I was invited to be part of the annual "Gestures" exhibit at the
Mattress Factory Art Museum here in Pittsburgh. I quickly said yes, but warned
I would not tack up a batch of cartoons. The museum said, "Excellent." I did
an installation piece, a fake travel agency. I love those art-deco travel
posters and did up an acrylic on water-color paper, in which figures slogged
through a drizzle. I titled it "London" but because Seattle and Pittsburgh are
just as soggy, I renamed it "Chutney" and one of those cartoon thought-balloon
light bulbs clicked on. "Chutney" led to the imaginary "Blinsk," "Arak," "Karastan"
and "Iota."
Cartoonists spend hours fretting over the perfect idea, cartoony beads of sweat
flying off their brow. When they get one, six more burst forth. The creative
process is rarely smooth. The German painter Max Ernst observed, and this can
apply to any of us, "All good ideas arrive by chance." By early 2007 I had a
folder full of thumbnail sketches, rough drawings, scribbles, doodles, notes,
ideas and topics. The folder’s grown fatter.
And
while we might share a bottle of wine in Cinque Terre but never eat tiramisu in
"Cinquemile," thanks to Bob Qualters, I am still having a whole lot of fun.
BIO
Tim Menees drew
cartoons for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for thirty years. He grew up in
Seattle, graduated from the University of Washington with a BA in political
science, served as an Air Force officer, then wrote for the Seattle
Post-Intelligencer. He moved to Pittsburgh in 1976.
His
work appeared in the national newspapers and newsmagazines, cartoon anthologies,
and on network TV. He drew three syndicated comic strips, and among his fans
was Susan Ford who gave a drawing to her dad, the President. He wrote and
illustrated a weekly column for the newspaper, as well as feature stories,
including accounts of his 24-hour visit inside Pittsburgh’s old Western
Penitentiary, a week aboard a Great Lakes freighter and a two-part series on the
arts in prison.
In
October, Duquesne Club published a book of his cartoons about a strikingly
similar institution, Ye Olde Steele City Clubbe, and celebrated its publication,
and his work, with a dinner.
In
addition to his representation at GalleriE Chiz, and this summer at Pilar
Shephard Gallery in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, he has shown his
cartoons and paintings at the Andy Warhol Museum, the Pittsburgh Center for the
Arts, Carson Street Gallery and Maine’s Port Clyde Arts and Crafts Society
Gallery.
The
New Works Festival chose his one-act play Father Figure for a seated
reading, and picked his children’s one-act play Rex The Mighty Hunter for
a full stage production. His one-act Boots on the Ground was part of the
production "Gored & Bushwhacked" at the First Stage Theatre in Los Angeles.
He is
married and has a son and a daughter. He has taught creative writing at a state
prison, and plays piano and accordion in a blues-zydeco band that has opened
for, among others, the Neville Brothers, Dr. John, Roseanne Cash and Marcia
Ball.
Selected internationals
1999 BOOK OBJECTS, ARTISTS
BOOKS. The Berchtold Villa, Salzburg, Austria
1999 ALPHAMARK. Galt Museum, Alberta, Canada, various other
sites
1996 CODES AND MESSAGES. British Crafts Centre, London, England
1996 5e
FORUM INTERNATIONAL DE LA RELIURE D’ART. Montreal, Canada
1995 CYNGHANEDD. Collaboration with Sylvia Marie Majewska, Glyn
Vivian Gallery
Swansea, National
Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, Wales.
1991 CALLIGRAPHIA. Presented by the International Typeface
Corporation; Moscow,
Russia; 1994 The
United Nations Headquarters, New York City
1991 FIBERART INTERNATIONAL. Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, Pittsburgh, PA
1990 2e FORUM INTERNATIONAL DE LA RELIURE
D’ART. Basel, Switzerland
1989 DRESSING
OLD WORDS NEW. Society of Scribes and Illuminators, various sites,
England
Solo
and
Two
Person
Shows
2008 JOURNEYS/YOU STILL
CAN'T GET THERE FROM HERE. Gallerie Chiz, Pittsburgh, PA
2006 BEFORE YOU VOTE. Gallerie Chiz, Pittsburgh, PA
2004 POLITICS, PRISONS AND THE PRINTED PAGE. Gallerie Chiz, Pittsburgh, PA
2003
HANDMADE BOOKS. Gallerie Chiz, Pittsburgh, PA
1994 POLITICS AND OTHER DIVERSIONS. Book Arts Gallery, Tucson, AZ
1989 PAGE BY PAGE. Southern Alleghenies MOA, Johnstown, PA
1988 A SHOW OF HANDS. Northwood Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA
1987 BOOKWORKS. AAP Gallery, Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, Pittsburgh, PA
Group Shows
2008 SPEAK OUT! ART, DESIGN AND
POLITICS. 516 Arts, Albuquerque, NM
2008 FUN AND GAMES. Center for Book Arts, New York City
2008 UNBOUND. Dan & Gail Cannon Gallery of Art, Monmouth, OR
2007 TRYST. Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, Pittsburgh, PA 2005
2006 GESTURES. The Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh, PA
2004-2005 PERCHANCE TO DREAM. Society for Contemporary Craft, Pittsburgh, PA
and
Ohio Craft Museum,
Columbus, OH
2004 CONFLUENCE. Morris University Art Center, Edwardsville, MO (award)
2003 ASSOCIATED ARTISISTS OF PITTSBURGH. Frick Fine Arts, Pittsburgh, PA
(award)
2003 BEYOND
READING. Ellipse Art Center, Arlington, VA
2001 TOLERANCE AND HUMAN RIGHTS. Collins Gallery, Portland, OR
2001 CALLIGRAPHIC ENIGMA. The Guilford Handcraft Center, Guilford, CT
2001 SOUTHERN ALLEGHENNIES MOA TRIENNIAL VII, Various sites, PA
2000 Y2K-PIT. Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, Pittsburgh, PA (best of
show)
2000 ART OF THE BOOK. The Society for Contemporary Craft, Pittsburgh, PA
1999 WRITING BEYOND WORDS. Guilford Handcraft Center, Guilford, CT
1998 CELEBRATING AMERICAN POETRY. Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA
1995 COPTIC AND COLLAGE. Center for Book Arts, New York City
1991 THE WELL CRAFTED BOOK-OREGON BOOK BIENNIAL III. The Oregon Book Arts
Guild, Banks, OR
1991 CALLIGRAPHIC BOOKS AT MCBA. Minnesota Center for the Book Arts,
Minneapolis, MN
1987 80 YEARS LATER Guild of Bookworkers, New York City and other sites
1984 GOLD ILLUMINATORS – CURRENT MODES. The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
NYC
Awards
THE LEON ARKUS AWARD.
Associated Artists of Pittsburgh, Frick Fine Arts, 2003
ABRAHAM C. FRANK MEMORIAL AWARD. AAP Annual, Andy Warhol Museum,
Pittsburgh, 2002.
HONOURABLE MENTION. Book Explorations 2002, Kingston, MA, 2002
SECOND PLACE AWARD, Double Vison - Collaborations, Craftsmens Guild of
Pittsburgh, 2002
BEST OF SHOW, Y2K-PIT, Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, 2000
BUNCHER FAMILY FOUNDATION AWARD, AAP Annual 1998, Carnegie MOA, Pittsburgh
PITTSBURGH CENTER FOR THE ARTS AWARD, Craftsmens Guild of Pittsburgh, 1998
AWARD OF DESIGN EXCELLENCE, Print Magazine, 1996
BEST OF SHOW, Craftsmens Guild of Pittsburgh, ‘Golden Hands’, 1991
THE FRANK ROSS AWARD, Craftsmens Guild of Pittsburgh, 1984
Permanent
Collections
The
Sackner Archive for Concrete and Visual Poetry, Miami Beach, FL
The Yves Klein Archive, Paris, France
The Arthur Jaffe Collection, Florida Atlantic University Library, Boca Raton, FL
The Superior Court of Pennsylvania
The Jack Ginsberg Collection, Johannesburg, South Africa
The Rolf W. Renker Collection, Whangaparaoa, New Zealand
Commissions
Teresa Heinz- Kerry
Reed Smith
Mellon Financial
PPG Industries
Pittsburgh Public Theater
Rodef Shalom Congregation
Top of Page |
