Tim Okamura (born 1968 in Edmonton, Alberta) is a Japanese Canadian artist known for his contemporary realist portraits that combine graffiti and realism. His work has been on the cover of Time Magazine and has been featured in several major motion pictures. Okamura's paintings are featured in major permanent collections around the world such as London's National Portrait Gallery and Washington DC's National Portrait Gallery. He was also one of several artists to be shortlisted in 2006 for a proposed portrait of Queen Elizabeth of England.
Okamura earned a B.F.A. with Distinction at the Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary, Alberta, Canada before moving to New York City to attend the School of Visual Arts. At ACAD he was a stand out, described by former classmates and professors as one of the most gifted alumni ACAD had seen. After graduating from SVA in 1993 with an M.F.A. in Illustration as Visual Journalism, Okamura moved to Brooklyn, New York, where he still resides.
Okamura has had several solo exhibitions in New York and Canada. His work has been shown in several prominent group exhibitions, including After Matisse/Picasso at the MOMA PS.1 in Queens, New York, as well as the BP Portrait Awards Exhibition at London's National Portrait Gallery. Okamura was invited to The White House in 2015 to honor artists whose work addresses issues of social justice, and received a letter of commendation from President Joe Biden. His 2020 portrait of Toni Morrison was chosen for the cover of Time Magazine and his portrait of Dr. Anthony Fauci was acquired by the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC. In 2021, the New York Historical Society acquired his 2021 painting Nurse Tracey, which was featured in the exhibition Dreaming Together.
Okamura - a recipient of the 2004 Fellowship in Painting from the New York Foundation for the Arts – has also had his paintings featured in several films including Pieces of April (InDiGent), School of Rock (Paramount), Jersey Girl (Miramax), and most prominently in Prime (Universal), a romantic comedy about a young New York painter starring Uma Thurman and Meryl Streep. Okamura's work is also notable in Ethan Hawke’s The Hottest State.
Tim Okamura’s art is on display in the permanent collections at the Toronto Congress Center, Beaverbrook Public Art Gallery, The New York Historical Society, The National Portrait Gallery, The Hotel Arts in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and Standard Chartered Bank in London, England. It is also featured in the private collections of Uma Thurman, Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson (The Roots), Spike Lee, John Mellencamp, Ben Younger, and actors Bryan Greenberg, Vanessa Marcil, Annabella Sciorra and Ethan Hawke.
Rosie No. 1, 2016, oil on canvas, 36 x 48"
Art
Tim Okamura investigates identity, the urban environment, metaphor, and cultural iconography through a unique method of painting. Urban life and hip-hop has greatly influenced Okamura's subject matter in his paintings - he often blending classical techniques of oil painting with the spontaneity of spray paintedgraffiti, combining the academic "realism" of his portrait and figure painting with modern graphics set in contemporary urban environments. The juxtaposition of the rawness and urgency of street art and academic ideals has created a visual language that acknowledges a traditional form of story-telling through portraiture, while infusing the work with resonant contemporary motifs.
Notable exhibitions
Solo
2023: Onna Bugeisha, The August Wilson African American Cultural Center, Pittsburgh, PA
2023: Recent Works, Christian Marx Gallery, Düsseldorf, Germany
2019: The Message, Meijler Art at Scope Art Fair, Miami, FL
2018: Recent Work, Christian Marx Gallery, VOLTA Basel, Switzerland
2018: Love, Strength & Soul, Packer Collegiate Institute, Brooklyn, NY
2017: My Music at Work, Liquidity Gallery, Okanagan Falls, British Columbia, Canada
2017: Begin Transmission, Peter Robertson Gallery, Edmonton, Canada
2016 Recent Work, Soho House, New York, NY
2016: Work in Progress, Red Bird Gallery, New York, NY
2014: Survey 2009 - 2014, National Arts Club, New York, NY
2014: Her Story, Douglas Udell Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
2013: This Story Has Not Yet Been Told, The Robert and Sallie Brown Gallery and Museum, The Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC
2012: Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Douglas Udell GAllery, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
2011: Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Lyons Wier Gallery, New York, NY
2011: VOLTA NY, Lyons Wier Gallery, New York, NY
2009: Brooklyn Walls: hopechangedreams, Douglas Udell Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
2008: Women in White / Bushwick Walls, Douglas Udell Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
2005: Urban Portraits + Brooklyn Mythology, Delgado-Tomei Gallery, Brooklyn, NY. First exhibition of "King", a large-scale portrait of Martin Luther King Jr.
2003: New Urban Portraits + Bricks, Locks, & Obstacles, Kanvas Gallery, NY, NY
Two-person
2014: Recent Work, with Jerome Lagarrique, White Room, Liquid Art System, Capri, Italy
2009: Love, Strength, & Soul, with TheKidBelo, Show & Tell Gallery, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
2007: Brooklyn Mythology: The First Nations Cycle (with Thekidbelo), Axis Art, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Group
2022: Go Brooklyn Go Brooklyn, The Brooklyn Collective, Charlotte, NC
2021: Coup D’État, The Brooklyn Collective, Miami, FL
2021: Dreaming Together, New York Historical Society and Asia Society Museum, New York, NY
2020: 2020 Vision, Southampton Art Center, Southampton, NY
2019: Still I Rise, Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams, MA
2019: Respect, Casita Maria Center for Arts & Education, Bronx, NY
2018: Painting the Figure Now, Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art, Wausau, WI
2018: The Outwin: American Portraiture Today, Ackland Art Museum, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC
2018: Fresh Paint, Meijler Art, The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Tel Aviv, Israel
2017: Scope Art Fair, Meijler Art, Miami Beach, FL
2017: The Outwin: American Portraiture Today, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO
2017: Special Project: VOLTA New York, New York, NY
2017: Art Karlsrühe, Christian Marx Gallery, Karlsrühe, Germany
2016: Liberty and Justice for Some, Walter Maciel Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2016: Art for Rights, Amnesty International, Los Angeles, CA
2016: Duets: A Comparison of Realities, Fort Works Art, Fort Worth, TX
2016: About Face with Amy Sherald, Ebony G Patterson & Rozeal, Creative Alliance, Baltimore, MD
2016: Urban Dawn Vol. II, The Loft, Beirut, Lebanon
2016: The Outwin: American Portraiture Today, Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC
2015: Scope Art Fair, Miami, Mika Gallery, Miami, FL
2015: ACT/ART EXHIBITION, East Wing of the White House, Washington, DC
2015: Sublime: Harlem, 345 Gallery, New York, NY
2015: Urban Development, Castle Fitzjohns Gallery, New York, NY
2015: The Outwin: American Portraiture Today, Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC
2015: Implicit Bias, Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery, Washington, DC
2015: Power, Protest, & Resistance: The Art of Revolution, Rush Arts Gallery, New York, NY
2015: Trophy Art, Azart Gallery, New York, NY
2015: Spring Preview, Douglas Udell Gallery, Edmonton, Canada
2015: International Salon of June, LAC, Machala, Ecuador
2015: Jumping the Line, Artiz Group in Harlem, New York, NY
2015: Light of the Ancestors, Pepco Edison Place Gallery, Washington, DC
2015: Artists Gaze: Seeing Women in the 21st Century, Sirona Fine Art, Hallandale Beach, FL
2014: Scope Art Fair, Miami, Castle Fitzjohns Gallery, Miami, FL
2014: Istanbul Contemporary Art Fair, White Room / Liquid Art System, Istanbul, Turkey
2014: CONTEXT Art Fair, Miami Beach, White Room / Liquid Art System, Miami, FL
2014: Identity, Snap! Orlando, Orlando, FL
2014: Behind Narrative, One Art Space, New York, NY
2014: Fixation, Zhou B Art Center, Chicago, IL
2014: For the Time Being, Koki Arts, Tokyo, Japan
2014: MIA in MIA, Lyons Wier Gallery, New York, NY
2014: Resurgence: Works from the Collection, Yeelen Gallery, Miami, FL
2013: Round Zero, The Art Director's Club, New York, NY
2013: Body Politic, The National Arts Club, New York, NY
2013: From Motion to Stillness, Zhou B Art Center, Chicago, IL
Nicholls, Liz. "Tim Okamura, Artist to the Stars." The Edmonton Journal [Alberta] 29 Oct. 2005: E1.
Burroughs, Alexandra. "Calgarian Paints Way to Hollywood." The Calgary Herald [Alberta] 28 Oct. 2005: C5.
Beeber, Al. "Artist is in His Prime." The Lethbridge Herald [Alberta] 28 Oct. 2005: C8.
2004
Lepage, Mark. "Edmonton’s Big-Screen Artist: Clients Include Eminem, Hollywood Blockbusters." The Edmonton Journal [Alberta] 28 Mar. 2004: B1.
2003
Boettcher, Shelley. "Albertan has Become a Painter to the Stars: Tim Okamura’s Art Appears in Several Major Films." The Calgary Herald [Alberta] 30 Nov. 2003: D4.
Andrusky, Joanna. "Park Raised Artist Takes A Bite Off the Big Apple." Sherwood Park News [Alberta] 17 Apr. 2003: 15–16.
2002
Kemp, Courtney A. "Would Posing Nude Change Your Body Image?" Marie Claire Oct. 2002: 132–140.
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