Gallery

ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL, review ,Wesley Pulkka April 2006

At Exhibit 208 Tim Prythero is showing weathered scale-model cars and trucks in his "Used Cars" installation. A series of five battered vehicles by Prythero that are wonderfully detailed Southwestern vignettes. He works from scale models of cars and trucks that he carefully scales up to create highly detailed aged versions of the originals.

His artfully weathered and battered cars and trucks reflect years on the road and trigger nostalgic feelings for the glory days of old Route 66. Prythero became known for his miniature three-dimensional interiors that have been shown in major galleries in Santa Fe and elsewhere.

Though he's been building vehicles for years, many people will get to know them for the first time in this exhibit. Prythero generally makes one original that he makes a mold of and casts in resin to create an edition. All of the individual casts require hours of hand finishing. This is an art form that requires infinite patience.

The most elaborate piece is "Plumber's Van," a one-of-a-kind work based on a 1960s vintage Dodge panel truck that is overflowing with junk. From the ladders on the roof to the piles of scrap pipe, fittings and crumpled soda cans inside this sculpture tell the story of years of use and abuse of a vehicle. Prythero includes vintage bumper stickers, dents and rust spots where they should be, dirt, debris and missing hubcaps.

Each work evokes a unique experience. In "Truck at Texaco" Prythero takes us through a gas station fill-up of an early 1950s Chevy pickup. The paint is made to look like it was worn thin by a combination of washings and too many miles on dusty back roads. The wooden bed is appropriately cracked and warped. An old tin tub and other detritus lie in the back.