Artist Spotlight : Bernadett Timko

Bernadett Timko is a rising star at Mall Galleries. Esoteric interiors and bewitching portraits have secured her first prize in the Winsor & Newton Youn Artist Award, the Phyllis Roberts Award, and most recently, the Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize. Nevertheless, the twenty-five year old remains modest, insisting that she 'doesn’t want to be attached to yesterday’s success'.

The dawn of Bernadett's career seems to cast its soft, pearlescent light onto all her paintings.She finds solace in those quiet moments when time appears to slow down, and feels compelled to preserve them on canvas. Hence, it is hardly surprising that the Hungarian-born artist is drawn to the solitary settings of early morning and dusk.

Despite its aesthetic harmony, Bernadett's work is often tumultuous beneath the surface. Nora, for example, is an act of rebellion; in direct challenge to the tradition of male subject gazing upon female object, Timko's sitter has her back to the viewer. The sitter's privacy and self-sovereignty is preserved, and the viewer must endure a curiosity unsatisfied, exchanging voyeuristic appreciation of appearance for an aesthetic appreciation of artistic skill.

Hungarian paintings, 'which have always been quite emotional and dark', continue to exert their influence on Timko's style. Chris and The Dinner are characteristic of the artist's penchant for depicting objects and figures looming out of a nebulous painterly gloom, which the philosophers among us may metaphorise as chaos, the uncertain, or the imagination.

Timko is 'fascinated by people and the atmosphere their presence can create', so figurative painting was and will always remain her main focus. However she has also found unexpected joy in depicting interiors, such as The Dinner.

In Timko's view, art and society share a close dynamic. 'It’s kind of a chicken and egg question', she muses. 'Art need not be controversial, or touch upon monumental subjects like religion or politics, to impact society. We are visual creatures, we remember images more than words. Art has always said things that words could not'.