Timothy Wehrle makes obsessive artwork that is a patchwork of scenes both real and imagined. In them, the artist’s emotional labor unfolds: an ongoing quest for a sense of self and belonging. Exploring the dynamics and pitfalls of contemporary culture, Wehrle’s imagery deftly fuses an aura of charm with a complex vision of humanity, posing questions about civilized existence. Writer and gallerist Randall Morris has observed that, “[Wehrle’s] drawings poetically unwrap the concept of a Cold War of the soul in a new world where the artist-citizen is constantly acted upon by encroaching depersonalization but is able to resist and ultimately strike back utilizing dreams, visions, and art making.” Executed in graphite, colored pencil and ink that he makes himself from walnuts, Wehrle’s intricate images distill moments of experience like pages from a diary. His conceptual material is wide-ranging, spanning topics of lighthearted homage (a quirky dog he saw on the street or the festive tendencies of octogenarians), to the poetry of everyday life (the mind-expanding capabilities of music, the intangibility of beauty and the complexities of love), to harsh comments on the ills of society (child abuse, poverty, internet pornography, the divisiveness of technology and the ultimate breakdown of human interaction).

Timothy Wehrle (b. 1978; Iowa, US) holds a BFA from Bard College. Wehrle has exhibited work with numerous galleries and institutions including Stellarhighway, Brooklyn, NY; the John Michael Kohler Art Center in Sheboygan, WI; Cavin Morris, New York, NY; Shrine, New York, NY; PPOW, New York, NY; and, Dieu Donne, New York, NY.