Tim Okamura
Biography
1968 born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
1996 - 1999 New York Academy of Art, New York, NY, USA
1993 Master of Fine Arts, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY, USA
1991 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Alberta College of Art and Design, Canada
1999 - 2006 Associate Professor, Drawing and Design, The City College of The City University of New York, New York, NY, USA
2000 guest lecturer at St. John's University, Queens, NY, USA
2001 - 2011 Associate Professor of Drawing and Painting, Parsons School of Design, New York, NY, USA
2004 Lecturer for a master's degree at the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, NY, USA
2006 guest lecturer at The Art Students' League, New York, NY, USA
2016 art lectures at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC, USA
Prizes and awards
2016 Artist-in-Residence, Red Bird Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2015 Received Letter of Commendation from Vice President of the United States Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
Honored at the White House for Contributions to Contemporary Art for Social Justice
2004 Lily Auchincloss Foundation: NYFA Chosen Fellow in Painting
New York Foundation for the Arts: Fellowship in Painting
1991 Alberta College of Art Board of Governors Award
1988 - 1990 Louise McKinney Post-Secondary Scholarship
1989 Henry Clinton Memorial Scholarship for Achievement in Visual Arts
Solo exhibitions
2018
VOLTA 14 , Christian Marx Galerie, Basel, Switzerland
2017
Begin Transmission , Peter Robertson Gallery, Edmonton, Canada
2016
Recent Work , Soho House, New York, NY, USA
Work in Progress, Red Bird Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2014
Love Strength and Soul , Yeelen Gallery, Miami, FL, USA
Her Story , Douglas Udell Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
Survey 2009-2014 , National Arts Club, New York, NY, USA
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, Canada
2011
Bronx , Brooklyn, Queens, Lyons Wier Gallery, New York, NY, USA
VOLTA NY, Lyons Wier Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2009
Brooklyn Walls: hopechangedreams , Douglas Udell Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
2008
Women in White / Bushwick Walls , Douglas Udell Gallery, Edmonton, Canada
2006
Urban Portraits + Brooklyn Mythology , Axis Art, Calgary, Canada
2005
Urban Portraits + Brooklyn Mythology , Delgado-Tomei Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, USA
2003
New Urban Portraits + Bricks, Locks , & Obstacles, Kanvas
Gallery, NY, NY
2002
Recent Work , Northsix Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, USA
2001
Urban Portraits , The Cutting Room, New York, NY, USA
Exhibitions with two artists
2016
Goddess , with Barron Claiborne, Gallery Josephine, Martha's Vineyard, MA, USA
2015
Begin Transmission , with Chris Marshall, Beelectric Studio, Brooklyn, NY, USA
2014
Recent Work , with Jerome Lagarrigue, White Room, Liquid Art System, Capri, Italy
2009
Love, Strength, & Soul , with TheKidBelo, Show & Tell Gallery, Toronto, Canada
2007
Brooklyn Mythology: The First Nations Cycle , with TheKidBelo, Axis Contemporary Art, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Selected group exhibitions
2018
Pish Posh , Hieronymus, Akron, OH, USA
SUMMER 2018: The Group Exhibition , Gilles Clement Gallery, Greenwich, CT, USA
2017
Special Project install for VOLTA New York, New York, USA
Masterpiece s, Christian Marx Galerie, Düsseldorf
art KARLSRUHE, Christian Marx Galerie, Karlsruhe
2016
Liberty and Justice for Some , Walter Maciel Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Art for Rights , Amnesty International, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Duets: A Comparison of Realities , Fort Works Art, Fort Worth, TX, USA
About Face , Creative Alliance, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Urban Dawn Vol. II , Beirut, Lebanon
The Outwin 2016: American Portraiture Today Exhibition , Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC, USA
2015
Scope Art Fair 2015, Miami, Mika Gallery, Miami, FL, USA
ACT / ART EXHIBITION , East Wing of the White House, Washington, DC, USA
Sublime: Harlem , 345 Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Urban Development , Castle Fitzjohns Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2016 Exhibition , National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC, USA
Implicit Bias , Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery, Washington, DC, USA
Power, Protest, & Resistance: The Art of Revolution , Rush Arts Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Trophy Art , Azart Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Spring Preview , Douglas Udell Gallery, Edmonton, Canada
Light of the Ancestors , Pepco Edison Place Gallery, Washington, DC, USA
The Artists Gaze: Seeing Women in the 21st Century , Sirona Fine Art, Hallandale Beach, FL, USA
CONTEXT Art Fair, White Room, Liquid Art System, New York, NY, USA
2014
Scope Art Fair, Miami Beach 2014, Castle Fitzjohns Gallery, Miami, FL, USA
Contemporary Istanbul Art Fair, Liquid Art System, Istanbul, Turkey
CONTEXT Art Fair, Miami Beach 2014, White Room, Liquid Art System, Miami, FL, USA
Identity , snap! Orlando, Orlando, FL, USA
Behind Narrative , One Art Space, New York, NY, USA
For the Time Being , Koki Arts, Tokyo, Japan
Fixation, Zhou B Art Center, Chicago, IL, USA
MIA in MIA , Lyons Wier Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2013
Round Zero , The Art Director's Club, New York, NY, USA
Body Politic , The National Arts Club, New York, NY, USA
From Motion to Stillness , Zhou B Art Center, Chicago, IL, USA
2012
Scope Miami 2012, Evan Lurie Gallery, Miami, FL, USA
Toronto International Art Fair, Lyons Wier Gallery, Toronto, Canada
The Box That Rocks , Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts, Brooklyn, NY, USA
2011
Pulse International Art Fair, Lyons Wier Gallery, Miami, FL, USA
BP Portrait Awards Exhibition , National Portrait Gallery, London, UK
Here and Now, Lyons Wier Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2010
Pulse International Art Fair, Lyons Wier Gallery, Miami, FL, USA
BP Portrait Awards Exhibition , National Portrait Gallery, London, UK
The Gentrification of Brooklyn: The Pink Elephant Speaks , Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts, Brooklyn, NY, USA
2009
BP Portrait Awards Exhibition , National Portrait Gallery, London, UK
2008
BP Portrait Awards Exhibition , National Portrait Gallery, London, UK
2007
Toronto International Art Fair, Toronto, Canada
Fall Preview , Douglas Udell Gallery, Edmonton, Canada
2006
BP Portrait Awards Exhibition , National Portrait Gallery, London, UK
2005
BP Portrait Awards Exhibition , Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland
Figuratively Speaking: Seven Painters , Delgado-Tomei Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, USA
BP Portrait Awards Exhibition , National Portrait Gallery, London, UK
2004
BP Portrait Awards Exhibition , Aberdeen Art Gallery, Aberdeen, Scotland
Commissioned / Non-Commissioned , Chung-Cheng Gallery, St. John's University, Queens, New York, NY, USA
BP Portrait Awards Exhibition , National Portrait Gallery, London, UK
2003
After Matisse / Picasso , PS1 / MoMA, Queens, NY, USA
2002
The Sound of Art , The Puck Building, New York, NY, USA
Fresh 2002, Artspace Gallery , Calgary, Canada
BP Portrait Awards Exhibition , National Portrait Gallery, London, UK
2001
Face Value: Portraits for the New Century , The Chrysler Building, New York, NY, USA
BP Portrait Awards Exhibition , National Portrait Gallery, London, UK
1999
Volte Face: Portraits , 450 Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Portrait and Figurative Exhibition, Williamsburg Art & Historical Center, Brooklyn, NY, USA
1996
10th Anniversary Exhibition , James McMullan Gallery, Edmonton, Canada
1992
Endangered , Art Directors' Club, New York, NY
1991
After Hours , William Mackenzie Center Gallery, Edmonton, Canada
Artworks in films
2015 Urge , Central Park Films
2014 HEAVYWEIGHTPAINT , Martini Films
2007 The Hottest State , Barracuda Films
2005 Prime, Stratus Films / Universal
2004 Jersey Girl, Miramax
2003 The School of Rock, Paramount Pictures
2003 Just Another Story , Roxbury Pictures
2003 Pieces of April , InDiGent Films
2002 Unfaithful, 20th Century Fox
Private collections
Uma Thurman, actress
Anabella Sciorra, actress
Bryan Greenberg, actor
Vanessa Marcil, actress
Hill Harper, actor
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, musician (“The Roots”)
Ben Younger, screenwriter / director
John Mellencamp, musician
Public collections
Davis Museum at Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA, USA
Howard Tullman Collection, Flashpoint Academy, Chicago, IL, USA
The Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Alberta, Canada
Toronto Congress Center, Toronto, Canada
The Hotel Arts, Calgary, Canada
Standard Chartered Bank, London, United Kingdom