Throughout February, the walls of Decentered Studio have been transformed by the soulful, evocative works of Tim Guan. In his first solo exhibition, Medium, Tim explores the tension between our digital lives and our physical bodies, using the slow, deliberate tradition of oil painting to anchor us back in the present.

We sat down with Tim to discuss his journey from the corporate world to the easel, his time studying in rural France, and what it feels like to witness his private studio reflections enter the public heart of our community.

You’ve made art all your life, but you recently moved from a corporate career to painting full-time. When did you realize that making art was a calling worthy of your life force, rather than just a hobby?

I’ve made art all my life and have always enjoyed it, but it was only after building a career in the corporate world that I realized just how different it feels in my body to the kind of work I was doing. When I was considering taking the leap to paint full time, I was fortunate to be at a job that allowed me to work remotely from anywhere in the world. I decided to spend several months in Europe which allowed me to make art during the day and dial into my job at night. Experiencing the contrast between embodied, focused, enthusiastic art-making me and exasperated, distracted, and burnt out office-worker me on a daily basis made it feel like making art was the only logical choice for how to spend my precious life force.

In the art world, the term ‘medium’ usually refers to the tools. But in your work, it also feels like a commentary on the “media” that mediates our lives. Why did you choose this title for your first solo show?

I’m particularly fond of the Oxford Languages definition of medium as “the intervening substance through which impressions are conveyed to the senses or a force acts on objects at a distance.” I first came to the word for this show when I was thinking about the first part of that definition, how much of life and our perspective of the world is mediated through technology and how looking at a painting is by contrast an unmediated experience. Over time, this idea expanded to include the concept of forces acting on us as a distance and the question of what living in the world created by the internet has done to our sense of presence and embodiment. I like that the word “medium” has so many meanings and invites various questions and interpretations of the themes of the show.

You studied at Studio Escalier in Argenton-Château, immersed in a very classical, slow French tradition. How did that pastoral, rigorous environment reshape how you view the relentless speed of San Francisco when you returned?

Drawing and painting from life all day forces you to narrow your focus and appreciate that the natural world is rich with beauty. This was especially helpful to me as someone who tends to obsess about the heady “ideas” behind art and hasn’t always been good at receiving what is already there to be observed and channeled. Outside of the studio, I was living in a rural community for the first time in my life. Being constantly in contact with the natural landscape, everyone greeting one another in the street, and getting to know the names of the local market vendors and their kids threw into contrast how transient and anonymous life can feel in a city like San Francisco. Since my return, it’s made me focus on cultivating a stronger sense of place here.

This is your first solo show. How does it feel to see these paintings leave the private sanctuary of your studio to live on the walls of a community hub like Decentered?

It feels great. Normally these paintings are in piles or leaned against the wall of my studio so seeing them displayed with room to breathe and be in dialogue with one another is super gratifying. It’s been especially fun to have the show at a community space like Decentered with tons of creative people flowing through. I’ve enjoyed the many conversations I’ve had with folks about the show and what resonates.

"Medium" brings together several years of work. How did you decide which pieces made the cut? Is there a specific narrative arc you want the viewer to walk through as they move through the studio?

I wanted to include work that felt most relevant to the themes of embodiment and disembodiment and would feel visually cohesive as a body of work. As for the layout of the show, there isn’t a specific narrative arc I want the viewer to walk through so much as a collection of questions I want them to be weighing together - the show is arranged to facilitate that.

A lot of your work deals with how we “leave” our bodies when we go online. When you’re painting a figure, are you trying to call them back into their physical form, or are you documenting their absence?

There’s definitely a bit of both. I choose to work in oil because it’s a slow, physical medium. Spending hours, days, or weeks translating a fleeting moment into paint feels like a way to reclaim some of its materiality. At the same time, because of the subjects I am drawn to paint I am often depicting some sort of partial vacancy or absence. I think of part of what I do as being a sort of emotional historian of this era, trying to record not just how it literally looks but how it subjectively feels to be alive inside it.

What's next? What is your dream project?

I’m preparing a ton of new work for an upcoming solo show at the Triton Museum in Santa Clara. I’m super excited to expand on the themes of “Medium” to explore new ideas and angles for that exhibition. I’m also enthusiastic about following the thread that began with the gilded icon of bok choy, the most recent piece in “Medium” - it would be a dream come true to grow that series and be able to dedicate an entire show to those ideas.

Anything we didn't cover that you'd like to share with our audience?

One of the very best parts of making art is the conversations I get to have with folks about it. To that end, my door is always open to anyone who wants to discuss the work or the ideas that it deals with!

Tim’s work will be on display at Decentered Studio through the end of February, Mon-Thu, 11am to 6pm. We encourage you to drop by, take a breath, and experience these pieces in person. If you’re lucky, you might even catch Tim in the space for one of those conversations he prizes so much.