The Tim Whiten exhibition currently occupying all three floors of the Meridian Gallery is a fantastic introduction to the prolific Canadian-American artist, especially to someone like me who was previously unfamiliar with his work. Whiten's sculptures, drawings, and installation art are represented in the show, all of it bound together by themes of mortality and how we relate to the natural world. Some of the first pieces you see when you walk into the gallery are two human skulls from his Descendant of Parsifal series, one cast in glass and the other completely wrapped in black leather, as well as hospital sheets (one pictured here) stained with coffee to resemble shrouds, the suggestion of human forms left behind on their surfaces. Spirituality is also important to Whiten, and pieces like a staff strung with animal bones and a small adobe hut are rich with overt references to ritual and mysticism. His drawings too are mesmerizing, and I was particularly drawn to his "writing" pieces that are composed in Whiten's own evoctive alphabet on brightly-colored pieces of paper. As an artist Whiten is a magician, conjuring the meaning of life itself.
See also: