Tim Roda

Tim Roda’s work was not the most spectacular; the work is too intimate for that. How could it compete with a slowed down car crash with broken glass and smashed metal? But Roda’s work is some of the most humane at NEXT.

The black and white photographs evoke classical and popular mythology—Icarus, doppelgangers, boxing kangaroos each find their way to the surface. The man and boy (prominent in most of the images) interact in various ways. The boy, always helpful, seems to be a genius, a spirit aiding the man in his follies. 

 The boy does not judge the man; the boy aids him (sometimes with only a hint of apprehension) as he tries to exert control over their detritus filled world. The attention to the world of decay spills into ours as a cardboard covering spills across the floor of the Art Agents space.