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Timothy Tew Gallery Grows
With Style
by Lynn Lamousin
The Piedmont Review, July 2002
This month, Galerie Timothy Tew unveils its expanded showroom.
Situated in Buckhead at 309 East Paces Ferry Road, the gallery
will seamlessly incorporate a neighboring space into its existing
location, thus doubling the gallery’s viewing area to 3900 square
feet. But the gallery's growth is about more than square footage—it
is yet another phase in owner and art lover Timothy Tew’s journey
to bring fine pieces of contemporary art to Atlanta.
 Tew
grew up in Georgia and studied music formally, but in the mid-1980's
he found himself yearning to experience life outside of the southern
states. With no set plans, except to experience a different culture,
he hopped on a plane and headed to Paris. Tew returned to Atlanta
a year later, in 1987, bringing with him not only a new appreciation
for visual arts, but also photographs of paintings from artists
he had meet in Paris.
Putting together a portfolio of these images, and working out
of a 1968 Cadillac that served as a makeshift office, he knocked
on the doors of local galleries trying to gain some interest in
the work. When the response was less than enthusiastic he changed
his strategy and began to directly contact residential and commercial
designers. His first big sale was to a newly opened upscale restaurant.
Tew hung the work of his French artists throughout the establishment
and the transaction allowed him to head back to Paris to seek
out more great work to bring back to Atlanta.
Combining an eye for art with keen salesmanship, Tew was able
to get established French artists to let him represent them in
the United States, and the cycle of discovering, acquiring, and
selling art continued. Soon expanding beyond French painters,
Tew began to carry works from artists in Germany, Great Britain,
and the United States.
But with growth comes change, and now that Tew’s business was
expanding, he found he had outgrown the Caddy and needed real
exhibition and office space. Tew’s first stationary showroom was
at TULA where he initially rented just the front-half of a studio.
After a few years, Tew once again outgrew his surroundings and
the gallery moved to its current location on the ground floor
of the Aaron Rents Building.
Combining both modern and traditional elements, the spatial ambience
in Galerie Timothy Tew mirrors the contemporary yet representational
artwork they offer. The honeycomb-shaped main showroom has open
ceilings and wire-suspended lighting and gives ample viewing area
to larger-scale pieces. A pair of traditional-style columns flanks
a portal that leads into a second, intimate viewing area containing
smaller-scale works and serving as the entrance into the gallery's
new wing. In this new area office functions and storage predominate,
although there is plenty of additional wall space for more work
to be hung.
But underlying the need for more room is Tew’s expanding vision
on the future of the gallery. As Tew explained it, “It used to
be just about pieces that I personally wanted to own. I sold what
I liked and wanted to collect, but now it’s more about pleasing
others and growing. I now see that there is beauty in many forms.”
While Galerie Timothy Tew looks to extend itself to new clients
and new artists, existing patrons will find that the gallery and
the work it represents still maintains the same level of integrity.
In fact, many of the 20 artists on view at the gallery have been
with Tew since the early days. Among others, regular clients can
still expect to find Stephanus Heidacker’s fanciful figures, Haidee
Becker’s boldly brushed still-lifes, and Kimo Minton’s imaginative
sculptures.
But this month the spotlight is on new acquisitions and a new
showroom; and fittingly, the expanded gallery space will be unveiled
on July 19th at the opening reception of the New Talent show.
The exhibit will showcase work from the newest artists under Tew’s
representation—Marie Turko Garcia and Eric Ansel. Garcia, an Atlanta
artist, paints slightly surreal images of intimate places; while
New York-based Ansel brings multi-layer abstractions to the Galerie
Timothy Tew fold.
Galerie Timothy Tew is located on the ground floor of the
Aaron Rents Building at 309 East Paces Ferry Road. They can be
reached by phone at 404-869-0511. All art lovers are invited to
the New Talent exhibition spotlighting the work of Marie Turko
Garcia and Eric Ansel. The opening night reception takes place
on July 19, 2002 from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. and the show will
run through August 23, 2002.
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