Every person has a story to tell.
“This Story Has Not Yet Been Told,” an exhibition by Tim Okamura, focuses on exactly that.
Featuring a collection of portraits done by Okamura over the past 10 years, the exhibition is helping the Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History celebrate its 25th anniversary.
“(Okamura) is an artist who has a very, very good approach to looking at youth and youth culture,” said Joseph Jordan, director of the Stone Center. “The centerpiece is called ‘Progressive Youth’ — in a lot of ways the Stone Center owes its existence to the work of progressive youth. It’s appropriate to put the focus back on them and the progressive stances they took over the last 25 years.”
Okamura, whose portraits combine high-energy graphic elements with realism, said this hybrid style comes from combining his love of academic art with his love for graffiti, street art and hip-hop. He said his goal is to become a storyteller through his visual art.
“The subjects of the paintings haven’t been represented very often in portraiture,” he said. “I’m exploring these stories that have not yet been told.”
Though he doesn’t know what his viewers will take away from his work, Okamura said he hopes his paintings are accessible to everyone.
“Accessibility in realism is something that’s always been appealing,” he said. “Kids can feel the emotions, and people with theories in art history can analyze it — it’s very didactic.”
Okamura not only accomplished this goal, said Stone Center program and public communications officer Clarissa Goodlett, but created a very provocative set of paintings.
