Always Counting, Never Adding Up is an exhibition of new paintings by Edinburgh based artist, Tim Dodds. 

Tim Dodds constructs makeshift models out of different things such as card, clay, foam, found items, and painting materials, including discarded canvases and surplus oil paint scraped from his palette.

In his work he explores ideas of connection, inner and outer, as he tries to find his way into the essence and act of painting. His distinctive approach uses the medium as a language, as if it were to become an unpredictable structure for thinking and world-making. Humour, playfulness, and lightness are essential elements in the work: absurd and far fetched motifs create juxtapositions that spark curiosity while textures and techniques shift impression depending on the distance they are being looked at from.

Cycles and transformations occur across Dodds’ practice: the recursion  where paintings reimagine the constructed models from which they are painted; the ways in which materials and models are recycled and repurposed in the creation of new paintings. It places painting in the middle of things, without an end point. It is this lack of resolution that the art historian and critic, James Elkins, in his book, ‘What Painting Is’, defines as a necessary condition for painting. He describes the act of painting as ‘liquid thought’, and the painted surface as something from which it is impossible to extract isolated ideas and fixed meanings. According to Elkins, paint is so compelling because it is ‘always counting but never adding up, always speaking but never saying anything rational, always playing at being abstract but never leaving the clotted body.’

Dodds carefully arranges the materials and paints them from direct observation. The models find new life when they become subjects of his painting: they overlap, cast shadows and, in some cases, balance precariously, creating a composition of dynamic shapes and rhythms. Understanding the whole scene is subjective: it does not matter where you start from, anyone can consider, find and make up their own meanings about the paintings in a way which reflects on their inner status at that moment. Each viewer will have their own unique experience with the work, as they explore the layers of meaning and emotion woven into each piece.

This work commences a 2-year project, funded by Creative Scotland, to develop my painting practice and exhibit. Always Counting, Never Adding Up sits alongside other exhibitions taking place this year including: ‘At Cross Purposes’, Oriel Môn, Wales and ‘Paintings: New work by Thomas Aitchison and Tim Dodds’ at Mote 102, Edinburgh and I am showing work in upcoming exhibitions in 2023 at QSS Studios Gallery, Belfast and Elysium, Swansea.

Tim Dodds is an Edinburgh based artist. He studied at the Slade School of Fine Art (1998-2002) and Edinburgh College of Art (2012-14). He has exhibited in solo exhibitions at GENERATORprojects, Dundee and 36 Limestreet, Newcastle and group exhibitions including at the Annual Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy; The Fleming Collection, London; Spot Korin, Kyoto; and Rhubaba, Edinburgh. His work belongs in the Royal Scottish Academy collection and has been written about in several publications, including Apollo Magazine; ‘Models and Materialities’  and ‘At Cross Purposes’, published by Aberystwyth University School of Art. He has received many awards including, most recently, funding from Creative Scotland’s Open Fund to develop and exhibit work over the next 2 years.