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Catharine Clark Gallery

July 19 - August 24, 2008

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248 Utah Street
 San Francisco, CA 94103
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Last Call
Reception Saturday, July 19, 5–7pm Last Call has multiple connotations in Timothy Cummings’ new body of paintings. It most commonly refers to the final opportunity to order cocktails in a bar or nightclub. For Cummings, last call is also a state of existence where the perpetual desire to nurse a drink functions as an antidote for the pain associated with a more sober experience of contemporary life. In an era of continuous bad news, Cummings argues, many dangerously choose diversion over engagement. Conversely, for Cummings, last call is a warning, rather than an opportunity for escape. Last call heeds action and rallies for change. The figures in Cummings’ works appear drained of vitality, depressed. A general apathy toward life and politics is here equated with a kind of zombie-like existence. Like a zombie, or a reanimated corpse who has been brought back to life and exists without speech or free will, Cummings’ signature dandy character’s eyes, once engaged in an almost confrontational gaze with the viewer, are now devoid of life, his pupils replaced by opaque, hollow orbs. Like the proverbial canary warning of toxins in the coal mine, Cummings’ zombie-youth admonish the viewer that without awareness and action, we may soon face a political reality that is devoid of choice, where our voices are rendered silent, and we too resemble the zombie characters of horror films. Timothy Cummings’ work is included in numerous private and public collections, including the di Rosa Preserve: Art & Nature (Napa, California). He lives and works in San Francisco and has exhibited with Catharine Clark Gallery since 1994.