Timothy MiChul

Born in Seoul, South Korea as an orphan, Timothy 'Ty' MiChul was adopted to a Methodist minister's family from a small town in Iowa. He was a successful art entrepreneur at an early age of 12. He sold his first art commission at 13. Tim has won many awards in art in Iowa. Out of thousands of entries, one distinguished award he won was a 'Best of Show' for a wax sculpture work at the Northeast Iowa Art Contest hosted at Upper Iowa University in Fayette at the age of 18. After high school, Tim turned down a full scholarship to the Minneapolis College of Art and Design to pursue his artistic talents at The School of Arts Institute of Chicago. From Chicago, he left to live in Los Angeles where he absorbed a melting pot of creativity. These experiences lead him to find his fine art method to what is successfully known today. He now lives in the Madison area teaching martial arts and working on art commissions for patrons.

Timothy has developed a process that is not only one of a kind, but a technique that has never been found in world history.

He is the founder of the reverse relief watercolor movement.

Artist Statement

I am currently doing a 50 piece tribute to all the bonsai that I love before I move on to other abstract and other subjects in mind. My art is painstakingly archival and I use the highest quality buffered materials. Cotton gloves are worn so that no oils can damage the art. Special triple filtered distilled water is used for the watercolor. Each composition is made of many individually cut and painted layers. I go through hundreds of razor blades. That in itself is quite dangerous and I have the scares to prove it. If any delicate section is ruined or tears, that entire sheet layer is redone. This is not a collage and no smaller pieces are added. The combination of multiple carved abstract watercolor sheets give the final subject its physical strength and form.

It takes me hundreds of hours to get it right because layers can be very fragile to handle. I use very spiritual feng shui color and subject. Most of my bonsai art represent priceless real ones. I do twins of the same work sometimes to have a yin yang, brother/sister of my art. Maybe some day they will find each other.