(on photo-video project "Confession" by Tim White)

by Tate Osten

There is something chilling in a blank stare of the walls without art. Therefore, the art comes eventually into any "cubicle" of human life. Art has been mystified. Controversially, people attempted to explain it. Therefore, people have been tempted to possess art. Trying to clarify what was not clear about the effect of the art, people were making up qualifying labels for the works of art.

Meanwhile, rarely an artist tries to explain in plain words what exactly is going on in his mind during the creation of a piece of art. Moreover, it is not a story or subject or composition that gives us a sensational current in our flesh. The energy of the artist’s guilt reminiscent through the history of mankind causes in viewers a staggering flash of knowing beyond, throwing them back into their déjà-vu existence. It is the energy of being responsible for all, taking charge in global disasters and opposing the art to the form of subconscious attempt to interfere with the past.

At the very edge of creating his virtual reality, an artist must be falling into disbelief of his judgmental abilities and slipping into deliberate transformation of the past. He sees the black and white images of life through synthesis and analysis of the events he could have influenced, but did not, or simply was not able to interact with the events due to natural obstacles. The magic formula of art is mostly conceived in catharsis of love to life. It develops into a never-ending reaction between life and death, betrayal and forgiveness. Dilemma of choice ends inaction.

Suggesting different options to act and change reality not in the future but in the past, the artist rightfully brings out magnetism of real art in his works. He is asking: "How often do we turn around to re-assemble the pieces of life not fallen into place when it needed? How continuous our recollection of what we could have done in a different way but did not? " He suggests us to re-play our life on our own terms. He is trying himself to visualize the abstraction of his life, the shadow of a shadow…

Tim White’s images seem to hit the target: they are painful to look at. This pain comes from different reasons. For those dreams of war coming back repeatedly when he was not even born yet. For eventually recognized power of time and ancient wisdom: one never shall step in the same waters. For sorrow to remember that there is no power over evil…

Hesitation of the author is strong enough to show us both sides – weakness and strength of it: where being alive almost equals being above reality. Here comes the joy of art. We, viewers, do not take risks of being really hurt or mentally screwed when the artist’s idea hits our nerve endings. There is no obligation either - to correct our little misprints or violent inactions. That is why we love art. In particular, we love this exhibition of Tim White. Its tense dynamic of guilt and forgiveness is brought to us through the brainwork of the artist. And artist is the one who knows. When he does not know all the answers to all the questions, he knows them better than we do anyway.

The artist has attempted to show how the screen of consciousness with its kaleidoscopic impressions carries not only what is in the focus of each man’s observation of actual things, but also in a residua of past impressions, some recent and some drawn up the subconscious zone by association. Each of these impressions affect us, viewers, and we see not unlike the results of a multiple exposure on a cinema film which would give a clear foreground and a background visible but blurred and out of focus.

So the impressions of the world wars rise up on the first plane of the artist’s mind. The intellectual inquisition might become visible in black and white shadows of the trees duplicating ghosts of the last world war, as well as in blue smoke swallowing a running mortal which turns into a particle of earth in a moment… Or a handful of bullets rejecting to know how exactly they were used and where they left their last trace into immortal spring of guilt…

Tim White takes us to the critical degree of constant self-restrain and discipline; only staying at the extreme height of feeling for the entire live world, one can sense death to be so incorrect and tragic. Catching up with spirit of inaction in the works of Tim White, one can only hope to resist that overwhelming energy beaming from the main idea of all his cinematic works. The idea of carrying on all pain for the ill-minded humankind and growing blossoms of love on the ground soaked in blood.

Thus, images of war and peace, of life and death are not confronted and not controversial in the artist’s mind. They culminate in the idea of life being responsible for death when people kill people, when the ghosts of dead come repeatedly into dreams of those who did not kill them. Like a stubborn student who does not understand where the reason is, the artist keeps receiving the message from the past. This message is far too familiar: the history of people has been bloody one, the minds of generations will be affected by it, and the arts are always in charge of our conscience and intellect working together.

Now again the bleeding Earth is a subject of the art. However, there are no battle scenes, neither reflections on documentary of wars. Only, if look long enough at these works, red dots startle in your eyes. And dizzily you think: "It was not my fault". Sure, it was not. Because the artist takes responsibility. The artist knows how to embed this guilt in our minds: the tiny red dots under your eyelids will follow you out of the gallery and, who knows, maybe now we have become responsible for all the wars on a battlefield of history of the humankind…

The central personage of series "Confession" is a very young girl populating war scenery of the video stills and photographs. What does she have to do with the universal cult of guilt streaming across this series? Why a thin pale shadow of today’s fashion models invades comfortably spaces filled with rust screech of the war metal? She looks so contemporary and all of her tender look is from the future. She is relating that cruel war past to the future conscience and awareness of being able not to forget.

Being positioned by the artist in his dense plot of guilt, the model appeals to real youth and future generations as a symbol of innocent mind suffering for all the sickness of the human self-destruction. Her clear, spirited face, her ideally shaped hands, her entire fragile lean figure in military ammunition appear in this series as a live link between the tough duty to remember (which the artist has chosen) and the hope that our children will never forget either.

This real girl is already in transition to her post of guilt just because of her involvement in this particular art project. She is a version of Ophelia, but very strong personality and a type of the future decision-maker. She is mature enough to have confession to make, confession for all of us: we all carry preconceived responsibility for all the evil and harm that we had done to ourselves.

Tate Osten

New York 2000