Lives and works in London
Tim Gatenby is a contemporary British figurative artist working predominantly in oil paint. Much of his work borrows images from popular culture which he reinterprets to create humorous parodies. A playful nostalgia can be found in Gatenby's work which subverts not only subject matter, but also technique; his blurred out visions challenge art's relationship with the Internet world we now inhabit. There is a twisted nostalgia to Gatenby's paintings which distort familiar characters, typically drawn as brightly-coloured and crisp cartoons, by blurring lines between classical painting and modern imagery.
Often combining deconstructed cartoon characters with dark humour, Gatenby's work reflects the pressures of consumerism and modern societal tendency towards over indulgence. Fast food is an ever present theme in his paintings and is used as a vehicle to convey the easiness of modern life. The radical notion that never has becoming obese required less effot.
Despite the darkness found in the various styles and themes explored, there are often playful, idiosyncratic moments that crop up, as if for his own amusement as much as the viewer's. A joke or pun can be found through a depicted object seen out of place, or an expectation subverted by an oddity, giving the work a comedic touch of the absurd to cleverly contrast the darkness found elsewhere.