Vacation

34,9 x 19,7 cm, Oil on Raw Canvas, 2025

TJ Rinoski (born 1994) is a contemporary artist based in Richmond, Virginia, whose work blends surreal memory, humor, and the quiet distortion of personal history. His paintings present an uncanny illusion, stories without clear narratives, reflecting how memory can be both misleading and poetic.

Drawing from tattered handwritten notes, personal photographs, and fleeting film scenes, Rinoski transforms deeply private recollections into universal visual experiences. The words and sketches he collects often make sense only to him, yet his finished works invite viewers to connect through their own memories.

Rinoski begins each piece by staining color onto minimally gessoed canvas, creating a dry, absorbent foundation. Using a distinctive “punch-like” brush technique, he blurs pigments until a textured surface emerges, evocative of a dusty postcard discovered on a grandmother’s bookshelf. This matte texture heightens the tactile presence of his subjects, making the imagery feel both familiar and dreamlike.

Although rooted in his own life, such as a childhood trip to the aquarium or the quiet ritual of watching sports on a Sunday evening, Rinoski’s paintings transcend autobiography. The deliberate absence of detail allows viewers to step inside the work, reimagining the scene through their own lens.

Through this interplay between the personal and the shared, TJ Rinoski explores the flexibility of memory and the idea that we are all temporary guests in someone else’s imagination.