Tim Bavington

Mark Moore Gallery presents Heart Above Head, the gallery's sixth major solo show from Las Vegas painter, Tim Bavington. Featuring eight new vivid compositions, the exhibition will showcase Bavington's adept translation of the aural and emotive to the optical and conceptual.

Drawn to vibrant palette of his neon-lit hometown, Bavington is a master of richly saturated color and visceral execution. Sourcing the melodies, instrument solos and prominent arrangements from pop and rock songs, he transcribes music into bands of synthetic polymer – the pigment oftentimes evoking the dynamic mood of ballad and artist alike. A lyrical Neil Young melody becomes a linear arrangement of polychromatic stripes, while a fervent Jimi Hendrix riff transforms into bleeding psychedelic abstraction – the style of both soloists echoed in Bavington's own interpretive technique. Bavington demonstrates the evolution of improvisation in pioneering music in this exhibition; the formal qualities of his trademark lines progressively disband and coalesce like the distortion pedal fuses the chord. As virtuoso Johnny Mercer sang, "…and so I come to you, my love, my heart above my head," Bavington illustrates creative footing between instinct and logic, spontaneity and structure – resulting in the simultaneous push and pull of the perceptible and signified. With a nod to his post-painterly abstraction forbearers, like Gene Davis and Kenneth Noland, Bavington distorts and short circuits his progressions to the point of ambient harmony; nearly Rothko-like in his ability to engender atmospheric swells and undulations in his canvases.

"…Bavington delivers a powerfully original remix that's accessible and sophisticated, immediate in its eye-grabbing appeal and long-lasting in its emotional affects." – David Pagel, Los Angeles Times (2004)

Tim Bavington (born 1966, England) received his BFA from the Art Center (CA) before making the permanent move to Las Vegas, where he completed his MFA at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (NV). His work is included in the public collections of Fredrick R. Weisman Collection (CA), Albright-Knox Art Gallery (NY), Creative Artists Agency (CA), Joslyn Art Museum (NE), Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego (CA), Portland Art Museum (OR), United Talent Agency (CA), Vivendi Universal (CA), Palm Springs Art Museum (CA), Denver Art Museum (CO) and The Museum of Modern Art (NY).