TIM HAWKINSON (b. 1960)

Tim Hawkinson was born in San Francisco in 1960. He went on to attend San Jose State University and later earned his MFA from UCLA in 1989. A renowned contemporary artist based out of Los Angeles, Hawkinson’s work has been featured in exhibitions in the United States and abroad including the Venice Bienniale, Whitney Biennial, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the J. Paul Getty Museum.

Over the course of his nearly two-decade career, Hawkinson has garnered a reputation as one of America’s most imaginative contemporary artists. His body of work ranges from paintings and photographs to miniature sculptures made from his own fingernail clippings, but he is best known for his large-scale kinetic and sound-producing sculptures. Using ubiquitous, even store-bought materials, Hawkinson crafts intricate works that are simultaneously familiar and surprising. His work often finds inspiration in his own body, completely re-imagining conventional self-portraiture. Hawkinson’s art ultimately explores the delicate relationships of life, death, and the passage of time.