Installation/Fabrication--Visiting the Tinkls

   Back in the summer we had the opportunity to visit the converted schoolhouse of Viktor and Judith Tinkl, local artists who'd offered up their home as part of the Uxbridge Studio Tour, 2011 version. The studio tour involves artists opening up their homes and places of work to the general public, free of charge. We had the time to visit three or four places and saw many wonderful works of art on a bright and beautiful day.

Judith and Viktor

   What made the day unforgettable for us, though, was the visit to the Tinkl property.
   None of us were prepared for the mind-altering (almost) experience we had there. The Tinkls live on a plot of land just off a country road set in amidst the rolling hills surrounding Uxbridge. Their property is very well treed and from the road you only get tantalizing glimpses of their world. Once you set actual foot on their land, however, you find yourself face-to-face with Viktor Tinkl's whimsical, almost-maniacal and constantly startling vision.

   Viktor Tinkl has fashioned a world out of concrete, a world that is larger than life and inhabited by forms, shapes and creatures straight out of his feverish imagination. They are everywhere and at every turn. They tower above you and are almost underfoot. They poke out from bushes, peek around corners and march in formation. They are skeletal and phallic. They are child-like. They are devilish. It seems as though every nook and cranny of Viktor and Judith's property offers up new discoveries to ponder.

   Viktor started populating his home with his concrete installations back in the sixties and has been at it ever since. As with many artists, it has obviously been a labour of love. Visiting there is a jaw-dropping experience and somewhat difficult to describe. One is soon reminded of a Tim Burton animated movie, many of the figures are stick-like and bone-thin, some are grotesque and still somehow humourous and sympathetic. In amongst the tons of concrete are woven bits of everyday, discarded life. Nothing goes to waste on the Tinkl property, no bit of garbage, no beer cap, lightbulb, coffee cup, Lego figure, playing card, wine bottle, tin can, piece of glass, or chunk of wood is unused. Many of his contraptions move and are interactive. And have no purpose other than to tease and delight!

The concrete installation dedicated to Greg Curnoe (on the bike) and one of Viktor's friends

   At one point of the tour, I had the chance to talk to Viktor. We did a little small talk and he asked me where we were from. When I told him we were from London his reply was, "Oh, that would be Greg Curnoe country!" Curnoe was a very well-known London artist who was tragically killed in a cycling accident back in 1992. Viktor and Greg were contemporaries at the time in the art world and knew each other well. At this point, Viktor turned and pointed to one of his installations which was towering above us. It depicted a man riding the handlebars of a bike being driven by another man who was playing a fiddle. Viktor said he'd created this piece to commemorate both Curnoe and another personal friend of his who had been very musically inclined and who had also passed away. Kind of a relevant and touching moment for someone from London!

   One of the more striking installations we came across was a platoon of "soldiers" marching double-file through the tall grass. There was a militaristic starkness to it that was mesmerizing. I made a mental note that I really needed to return in the winter sometime, to see these soldiers marching through the snow.

"Tangled Web"

"Cockroach and Scorpion"

   Viktor's wife, Judith, is a wonderfully talented artist as well. Her work permeates the Tinkl's indoor studio with fabric designs and amazing quilts. There is an astounding array of textures, colours, and inter-woven "found" objects-buttons and beads and the like. You quickly realise that what you're looking at is not likely going to end up on a bed somewhere, this is art that needs to be prominently displayed, in a place of honour. Judith began her artistic career drawing and painting. When asked why she chose to work almost exclusively with fabric and textiles, her reply was, "I didn't choose them, they chose me!" As with the surrounding land, every turned corner (and they seem to be endless!) of the studio building presents the visitor with new things to marvel at. And as mentioned before, nothing gets thrown out--beer caps, used Timmies cups, spent caulking cartridges--whatever might have been used making the art finds its way back into the art!

Caulking Plane

   It was very hard to visit the Tinkls and not be somehow inspired by all that you saw there. When I talked with Viktor he said that a common thread that came up with visitors is that many of them wanted to return there in order to "help". I myself understood where this might come from, I also had a desire to be a part of the magic. He told me that what he says to offers of assistance is that people are more than welcome to come and "dig holes"! He said, with a bit of a twinkle in his eye, that this response generally dulls visitors' enthusiasm. For my part, I might have been happy digging holes!