For Ojile, a mood enhances the art

All artists have styles of painting, and all artists have methods of painting. Timothy P. Ojile, whose work is celebrated as much for its quirky intellectualism as its obsession with detail, likes something going on to set the mood, ranging from listening to Philip Glass and Steve Reich’s minimalist, Zen-like approach to music to having a tai chi practitioner inspire students in an art class.

But no artist can escape the thoughts in his own head while he’s in the process of creation, whether they are overt or subliminal. Ojile’s recent show at the Koa Art Gallery is something of a comeback after a period of mourning due to a family loss, with several pieces created before and a couple painted after.

The new pieces are large, so large they even surprised the artist himself.

"They’re about 6-by-5 feet, and I’ve never quite painted that large. I actually had to stand over them to get started, and then lifted them vertically to do the details," said Ojile.

They’re fairly somber and reflective as well, titled "Woe Flag" and "Rue Flag," and yes, they look like flags.

"The end of my paper roll had the paper pulled to a point, like a stretched flag, and so it seemed right to paint them as flags."

Flags are also iconic symbols of respect, commemoration and idealism. Did Ojile’s hiatus from public painting to deal with private grief contribute to their context?

He thought for a moment. "I’m not sure. I plan things out, but there is inspiration in creating art in any case, and then you rise up to meet it. I’m pretty well-known for my varying directions in painting, so no matter how you plan it, you go with your intuition."

One thing that doesn’t vary is Ojile’s love of paper as a substrate. He says that’s because it’s easier to store and easier to work with than canvas. "Oh, I have enough piled up in the spare bedroom for 20 or 30 shows. I’m so prolific! I use big rolls of Arches watercolor paper, lots of acrylic paint and mediums like crayon together — they’re mixed-media. Some pieces are brash, and some are subtle, although I tend to go neutral in color, minute and small in detail.

"I’m so visual in the way I work that my planning isn’t overt. Sometimes I don’t know what I’m trying to say at that moment — it’s a matter of perception, isn’t it? When I go over a piece I did 10 years ago, I see new meanings in it, meanings I had no idea about at the time I did it."

And watch out, world. Ojile has also been writing poetry lately, exercising the other half of his creative brain.