Timothy Curtis The Painters' Hands

The Current is pleased to announce a solo exhibition of Timothy Curtis’s work from January 16 – April 12, 2025. 

Curtis was first introduced to the arts via graffiti writing as a young child in Philadelphia. Later, while serving a seven-and-a-half-year prison sentence, he immersed himself in the study of art history, drawing, and painting. He emerged from the prison system with a fully formed artistic vision and distinctive style, through which he established a focused studio practice in late 2015.  

A talented graffiti writer in his own right, this art form has continued to influence his studio practice today. While his graphic use of line and vibrant color appear both decorative and aesthetically joyful, beneath their initial appeal there is more. His practice is the natural continuation of a rich artistic tradition from the region of his birth. Aside from the Philadelphia graffiti that he was surrounded by at a young age, Curtis has also started to recognize another artistic influence on his work, that of the Pennsylvania stoneware of the 1860s. Like the distinctive and regionally specific graffiti of 1960s Pennsylvania, the stoneware of that same region also maintains a visually unique and iconic imagery within the medium.  
Curtis’s contemporary works are imbued with his rich and storied experiences, combined with his constant inquiries and the connections he sees in this world. His work is highly intelligent, thought-provoking, and researched, as evidenced in this exhibition.  

'Timothy Curtis: The Painters’ Hands' is the first time Curtis will publicly present the start of his thesis that a distinctive thread of influence stretches over 200 years in one region. This inquiry examines not only the aesthetic mark-making and inherent symbolism but the ability art has to transform lives.  

At 5:30 pm, during the opening reception, Curtis will connect the dots between Pennsylvania Dutch stoneware of the 1860s in Kensington, 1960s-1970s Philadelphia graffiti writing, and the genesis of his own artwork. The exhibition will display the original stoneware from the 1860s and new paintings and sculptures by Curtis, along with photographs of 1960s-1970s Philadelphia graffiti. The photographs were all taken in the Philadelphia subway tunnels which protected the work from the elements and attempts at removal, preserving it for a new generation of artists such as Curtis to appreciate.