Tim Cantor

Tim Cantor is a contemporary artist who was born in San Francisco, CA, in 1969. He became enamored with art at a very young age and shortly after focused the majority of his efforts in oil painting. When he was fifteen he was given his first gallery exhibition, where one of his paintings was even acquired to be hung at the White House. Since then he has created numerous paintings and displayed his work all over the world. In 2014 and 2015 he worked with the band Imagine Dragons to design the cover art for their album Smoke and Mirrors, along with a painting to represent each song on the album. His art was the focus of their music video "Shots"(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQrgto184Tk) and even inspired some of the set for their tour.

Cantor tends to work at night and incorporate meaning into his paintings with the use of metaphors. He also often creates works inspired by his wife, Amy Cantor, whose initials or even full name are occasionally hidden within his paintings. His art is classified as modern surrealism that also pulls elements from Renaissance and Neo-Classical works. Before each painting he always does a sketch of what he intends to paint. Below is one of my particular favorites along with the final painting.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BASE2lMDar1/?hl=en

https://www.instagram.com/p/BAZykzkDat5/?taken-by=timcantor_artist&hl=en

It's particularly interesting how he essentially creates a "study drawing" of the concept before actually starting to work with the paints. I imagine his use of line and value in the study drawing also helps guide him when working on the actual painting. 

The sketches below, along with their finished work, are evidence of how making a study drawing or concept art can help the artist see a physical representation of his or her idea and make subsequent changes.

https://www.instagram.com/p/-uET9Jjamc/?taken-by=timcantor_artist&hl=en

https://www.instagram.com/p/-wbNiQjaud/?taken-by=timcantor_artist&hl=en

https://www.instagram.com/p/-zFv8zDaiS/?taken-by=timcantor_artist&hl=en

Concept Art for the cover of Smoke and Mirrors

https://www.instagram.com/p/4MebqCDavX/?taken-by=timcantor_artist&hl=en

Final Album Cover (without text)

https://www.instagram.com/p/559UCFDagn/?taken-by=timcantor_artist&hl=en

It is key that this evolution take place before the paint hits the canvas, because it is much easier to tweak ideas using sketches than to redo a whole painting if the artist wants to change major components. In fact, after Cantor first heard the demo tracks for the album, he created a few hundred sketches that were eventually narrowed down to 14 finished works.

Cantor has two current exhibitions: "Nostalgia" in San Diego, and "Sweet Favour and Fiend" in Las Vegas.

Works Cited

Cantor, Tim. "The Story of Tim Cantor." Tim Cantor: Paintings and Writings. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Oct.  2016.

Cantor, Tim. (timcantor_artist). Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/p/BASE2lMDar1/?hl=en.

Harvey, Steve. "Spatial sound imagined: Smoke + Mirrors." Pro Sound News Sept. 2015: 20. General OneFile. Web. 4 Oct. 2016.