Bio

BIOGRAPHY

Born New Bedford, Massachusetts 1943
Life time painter working in oils, watercolor and graphite.
Having lived exclusively on the Atlantic coast, he developed a fascination with weather and atmospheric conditions. An early interest in sailing boats was a natural development which has contributed to the making of his work.
Tinkham’s education includes a BFA from Swain School of design and University of Massachusetts and an MFA from Brooklyn College.
He has been exhibiting his work since his mid twenties and has shown primarily in New York City, New England and Key West. He also has exhibited in Berlin, Tokyo and Lunenburg, Nova Scotia.
He is currently showing at Jag Gallery in Key West, Florida.
He lives and works in Montague, Massachusetts and travels during the summers.

STATEMENT

AD Tinkham sees creation and order in a storm where most people would see destruction. He feels alive on the water where his life has been threatened by extreme weather. He has been changed by it, and now as the subject of his work, it changes us. There are few things in this world as universal to human beings as weather. It impacts us emotionally because it reflects the turmoil and the beauty, the violence and the possibility for peace within each of us. By using weather phenomena as an avenue for the exploration of his own humanity, A.D. Tinkham allows us each to explore our own. The work captures the moment of clarity before the rain falls, the high energy before the unleashing of the storm. Tinkham’s paintings are not merely landscapes, in a sense they are self-portraits. They reveal that part of the artist that identifies with the calm and the fury inherent in a storm, and the transmission of that sharing through the work allows viewers to recognize themselves in it. Tinkham’s work is subtle by design. He uses values that are so close that the eye needs time to adjust to the image. This element of time and patience built into the work forces the simultaneity of analysis and synthesis. The power and subtlety of the paintings operate on more than one level, and as we, the viewers, relinquish ourselves to the work, it begins to reveal itself. In this way, a viewer builds a relationship with Tinkham’s paintings, and like in a relationship, the more time spent with them the more you come to know and to love. In my experience, the longevity of Tinkham’s paintings is unparalleled. Although minimal to near abstraction, Tinkham’s landscapes convey a depth of movement and light and a sense of place that is undeniable. Tinkham has been painting for many years. He has been getting to know nature for as many years. He has combined intimate knowledge of nature (how clouds move, and the nuances of light through a fog, etc.) with fine technique, to create paintings that do what fine art is supposed to do: surpass superficial beauty in a way that is moving and accessible, intelligent and minimal.