Tim Whiten Image Maker and Creator of Cultural Objects
Toronto, Ontario
Video by Raghed Charabaty

Tim Whiten is an image maker and creator of cultural objects. Professor Emeritus at York University, he perceives expressions of being in the world as markers in a series of passages, while considering mortality itself as threshold. ln over 50 years of exhibiting work, he has sought to navigate the territory of the human condition and its transformative potential. His long-time use of human and animal remains reference the physical, while other natural materials connect the body to the world through ritual. His work is held in many collections, namely the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, and the de Young Museum and the Legion of Honor, in San Francisco. He is the 2022 recipient of the Gershon Iskowitz Prize from the AGO and was a finalist for the Government of Ontario’s Premier’s Award for Excellence in the Arts. As professor of fine art at York University since 1968, he has been instrumental in influencing generations of aspiring artists. Tim Whiten lives in Toronto, Ontario.   

Tim Whiten’s website

“During fifty years of cultural production, Tim Whiten has sought to navigate the territory of the human condition and its transformative potential. Rather than produce discrete, passive artworks for aesthetic contemplation, he creates cultural objects that can dynamically engage audiences in processes of self-reflection and self-awareness. His art making is ritual. His artistic and spiritual pursuits are intertwined, a singular mix of intellect, passion, intuition, subjectivity and psychological complexity.”

Nominators: Carolyn Bell Farrell and Virginia Eichhorn

Logo Art Bank

See the artist’s works that are part of the Canada Council Art Bank collection.

See the collection

“Rather than produce discrete, passive artworks for aesthetic contemplation, he creates cultural objects that can dynamically engage audiences in processes of self-reflection and self-awareness.”

Selected works

This photograph documents a ritual performance, during which the artist works to free himself after having been sewn into a bearskin.
Boxy white shapes form an austere, low throne. A human skull fronts each armrest. It rests on a matching plinth.
A wagon made of white rectangular solids has white discs as wheels. It bears a swath of human hair. Its handle terminates in a human skull.
A long wooden staff rises from the axle of a small bicycle wheel. It is topped by a small black seat.
A wrinkled sheet of light fabric bears dark stains suggesting a supine human form. A small red stencil reads "HOSPITAL PROPERTY C.H.L.S."
Seven wooden sticks, some capped with horns, lean against a wall. In front are slabs of stone topped by flowers, wooden bowls and candles.
A life-sized rocking horse is formed of frosted translucent blue-green glass. In contrast, the horse wears a black saddle.
Pieces of white, black, red and green cloth, tied to three sticks leaning on a white wall. They rest on pieces of fabric in similar colours.
A partially barked lilac branch is placed horizontally over two small pieces of wood that are mounted on a wall. A polished glass cane with a brass tip hangs on the branch.
A rectangle, gently curved on its long axis, appears to float slightly. Colourful bits of crushed glass form a pattern on its surface.

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