Timothy Silverlake was born in Saint Cloud, Minnesota, and raised in Downey, California. His upbringing included a combination of structured Catholic schooling, family gatherings, participation in his high school band, dabbling in artsy paintings, and just generally goofing off with his four siblings. He developed a strong work ethic early on, influenced by his time helping fold boxes in his family’s doughnut shop from age 10.

Silverlake developed an interest in art at the age of 15. He later found support, guidance, and inspiration from Robert Kobashi, an instructor at a junior college in Torrance, California. Silverlake pursued his artistic aspirations and studied at UCLA and the California Institute of the Arts, where he earned both a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) and a Master of Fine Arts (MFA).

Following his formal education, Silverlake worked across several creative industries. He spent a decade in landscape design and also worked as a digital print specialist in commercial printing. Over time, he gained experience in web development and e-commerce while working for Typecraft, a renowned print shop in Pasadena, California.

His artwork is influenced by elements of popular culture, history, and everyday visual experiences. He works primarily with found images, which he layers and edits digitally. His process involves masking, blending, erasing, and drawing to explore unexpected outcomes.

Over the years, Silverlake has developed a streamlined approach that focuses on visual clarity and impact. He works with both digital and traditional tools, though his practice leans heavily on contemporary digital media.

Silverlake cites influences from various movements and artists, including Abstract Expressionism, Hyper-Realism, and figures such as Albrecht Dürer, Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, John Baldessari, and Frank Stella. He continues to create independently, without regular involvement in galleries or artist organizations. His work often features unconventional titles and has received a mixed but generally engaged response from viewers.

Though he has not exhibited in major shows or publications, Silverlake remains focused on developing a sustainable art practice. He views the studio as a space for exploration, separate from commercial or societal pressures.

In addition to his art, he works as an e-commerce product template builder and remains active in commercial printing. His career reflects a consistent effort to integrate creativity into multiple fields.

Silverlake lives and works in Los Angeles, California.

“I consider myself a painter, but I almost never touch paint. I paint with pixels. I think digital tools are the real fine art tools of our time. For my work to be relevant, I need to use the latest technology and stay connected to the culture and world around me.”

Fictional Landscapes. TJ Silverlake has worked with digital since the early 2000s, using terrain generating software to create digital worlds. Snapshots were taken and printed at high resolution. The astonishing detail of the finished pieces intrigued him. He explored digital in the same way he explored painting, developing artistic processes to blend, contour, and layer; with the same respect for composition, tone, light and integrity of color. “I built a knowledge of how image software algorithms work. I redefined how I draw and paint. Aesthetic decisions are being made at each step. Something I care a lot about is the discipline it takes to do digital artwork. The same discipline that applies to any kind of artistic endeavor."

When he works, he is conscious of the viewer. The scale, detail, tone, colors and visual cues are designed to engage the viewer in a journey, to be drawn into a deeper experience, to explore, to discover new connections and meaning. Fusing hyperreal, abstraction and fantasy, the artwork is complex and multi-layered. It’s not about a quick read. "The art viewing audience today functions at a very high level. I am hopeful the viewer may see the thread between each work that allows a larger narrative to be explored."

So let’s take a look. And then look closer.



Rabbit, monoprint, ink on paper. 42 x 36”.

Rabbbit detail

The artwork spans the spectrum; cold hard-edged patterns to figurative; landscapes; cityscapes. There are faces, heads, morphed whimsically, crazily. Often, the art is about storytelling, narratives that will hopefully cue an emotional response. There is an element of time in some narratives, time that’s created by complex layers within each image and, importantly, by the evolution of images in a series.


Test Transmission, monoprint, ink on paper. 42 x 42”, 2006.

AI and Art. Since the summer of 2022, he has been exploring AI as another creative “tool.”  He currently uses AI systems to generate "stock" images for his digital work.

From the outset, he deliberately steered clear of the stylistic prompts that are commonly used. Notably, prompts that specifically request “in the style of.” “I have no interest in imitating artists like Rembrandt, Warhol, or any other. My primary objective is to create original art.”

The launch of generative AI apps like DALL-E 2, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion in the summer of 2022 marked a profound shift in the art world landscape. The implications for artists and designers are far-reaching and significant. “Will artists, particularly commercial artists and designers, lose their jobs? Will they learn to collaborate effectively with AI?” "Will what is acceptable as ‘Art’ be re-defined - again? How will art evolve?"

"Art engages different parts of our humanity, our emotions, and intellect. Art opens a space for us; allows us to see, to feel, to connect … Art moves the culture forward."

"It’s time for an intelligent dialogue. I’m optimistic about the opportunities and possibilities of the evolution of art with the new technologies developing today."

“It seems to me that artists would be wise to explore the new AI medium and possibly have a hand in shaping its future.”