Jacky Winter is pleased to present Role Models by Timba Smits — a series of exquisite portraits.

Movie culture has become part of our collective lifeblood. We live and breathe movies. We worship the people who star in them and the people who make them like earthly gods. Much like other human beings, Timba grew up surrounded by movies. His earliest memories involve bingeing on the cinema of Arnold Schwarzenegger, an obsession which led him to create his own remixed versions of Chuck Norris action spectaculars, with the help of his similarly entranced brothers. This fixation on film reached its apex when he cued up his 20th viewing of Forrest Gump — an influential, all-time favourite.

Role Models is a new show that explores nostalgia for the way movies shape who we are and the whimsical nature of screen acting, whereby a real person assumes the identity of a fictional doppelgänger. In this cine-pop-culture print exhibition, Timba’s fascination with icons of the screen manifests in the mixing together of the key characters that have inspired his own life and work. The show includes a star-spangled cast of legends: Tom Hanks, Bill Murray, Uma Thurman and, of course, Arnold Schwarzenegger. From Forrest Gump to Conan the Barbarian, he has created new, multi-tiered portraits of these icons as exquisite corpses — a reference to a drawing game he played as a young artist in training. The results evoke the colourful world of modern movie devotion, coupled with the disquieting undertow of a major identity crisis.

Words by David Jenkins, editor, Little White Lies.

It’s been 15 years since Timba’s first (and only) solo show but he hasn’t been idle in the intervening years. Since his 2001 debut exhibition, Self Titled, this award-winning illustrator has ventured on to refine and evolve his iconic style while exhibiting in and curating a large number of successful local and international group shows. After initially training and working as a graphic designer, in 2005 Timba co-founded, designed and independently published the self-described “MEGAzine” Wooden Toy Quarterly, as well as co-founding Melbourne’s Gorker Gallery (2008 – 2010). In 2010 he moved to London after winning a British Council creative award and after quickly establishing himself there, became creative director and illustrator of two of the world’s leading indie magazines: Little White Lies and Huck. In this role, his time is divided between designing collectible print ephemera and creating bold mixed media artworks and illustrations.

Timba has also done illustration projects for an impressive host of global clients including The New York Times, WIRED, Esquire, The Guardian, Mens Health, SBS, Johnny Cupcakes, Dunlop and Ride Snowboards. He has given keynote talks and hosted workshops at numerous creative festivals around the world and is consistently featured in design, illustration and art publications, both in print and online.