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Sur Rodney (Sur), archivist, curator, and friend of photographer Timothy “Tim” Greathouse (1950–1998) discusses Greathouse's work in a recently published monograph in conjunction with the exhibition "Tim Greathouse: Albiet" at Daniel Cooney Fine Art, on view through February 29, 2020:
"Our beginning to know each other grew around my encouraging him to learn to develop the rolls of film he’d stashed, not being able to afford processing. And, furthermore, learn to make his own prints. His acquired skills with processing film and printing were extraordinary.
Greathouse and I become roommates at Gracie Mansion’s request. She was helping Greathouse find a place to live until he could find his own flat. She asked if he could room with me -- he only needed a place for a couple of weeks that would in effect become a couple of years. We lived together on Saint Marks Place from 1980 until our move to a building, a bee line into Alphabet City in the Fall of 1982.
He moved out of Alphabet City and into a safer ground storefront on East 11th Street rented for him by a Boston friend and angel, Larry Loffredo aka Uncle Larry. The storefront would be his photo gallery named Oggi Domani, renamed Greathouse when it relocated. His gallery venture presenting photography exhibitions would expand to include sculpture, and before closing drawing and painting.
New Math, a gallery co-directed by Nina Seigenfeld and Mario Fernandez, were planning to represent Greathouse as a photographer. At cause to the gallery having to close, the exhibition was never realized.
Much to my surprise, I learned that the few were aware (or remembered) that Greathouse was a photographer. “Tim and I were really close” Marcus Leatherdale told me when I brought up the subject “I have some of his artwork, and seen some of his painings and a few works on paper. He never told me about his photography.” I’d earlier heard the same from Phyllis Galembo, both were photographers Greathouse presented in his gallery. This intrigued me, not only did Timothy gift me many of his never exhibited exhibition prints, I was a patron of his gallery. I acquired photographs from several of the artists he’d shown - Zoe Leonard; Jimmy DeSana; Hope Sandrow; Paul Smith; John Brill, and Philip Pocock among them.
His water color, ink drawings, paintings and collages, more familiar to many of his friends, are indeed precious – there are several in my personal collection. Realizing how lesser known his photographs were, since his first recognition and exhibition as a photographer with gallerist Gracie Mansion. I honor them both with this small editioned monograph; a selection his vintage prints, something never realized during his lifetime.
Aside from the November 13, 1998 NYTimes obit, and one other that appeared on the HIV/AIDS resource website The Body on December 1 (World AIDS Day) Timothy Greathouse seems to have been ignored in most historical reconciling of the East Village during the 1980s. He would appear some years after his death as an artist represented online in the Visual AIDS Archive registry, for anyone who was curious enough to find him there."
Text provided from a new monograph published in conjunction with the exhibition published small monograph to complement the exhibition "Tim Greathouse: Albeit" at Daniel Cooney Art Gallery. The monograph will be available for purchase during the show's closing on Saturday, February 29, 12-6PM
You may also purchase a copy by contacting Sur Rodney (Sur) at nipplemuse@earthlink.net.