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Meet Tyler Scully, a Los Angeles-based artist working in the style of “minimal expressionism”.
A majority of his work is an exploration of his heritage (Hawaiian & Irish) and the intersection between the land, the spirit, the people and politics. As Tyler says, he feels disconnected from these elements, and in his works he reconstructs them into otherworldly imagery.
His portraits are rather minimalist, but quite expressionistic in their subjects and use of paint.
One of the defining features of Scully’s art is the eyes. In his works, you can often see multi-eyed characters. No matter how distorted the portraits in his canvases are, they almost always have one clearly defined eye looking right at you.
Learn more about Tyler Scully’s work at his website: www.tylerscully.com
«My portraits are separate and competing parts of the self and the other to make a whole that never really are completely unified». Can we say that you are like your portraits? How does your origins affect your art?
Well I put a lot of reference photos from many people into one portrait. Sort of a Cubist thought but instead of different perspectives of the same person I have different people combined into one form, but really with the aim of creating a universal person. I think with my ancestry I can see the many different events and people and places that had to intertwine for even my own existence. And with that realization I can see the universality of humanity even though we like to put up walls and borders and definitions to separate ourselves.
If art is a language, what does your work talk about?
You mostly paint portraits. What is the portrait of the modern man? And what influence does society have on him?
Your portraits often feature multi-eyed characters. Does it make any sense?
I don’t think it needs to make sense logically.
How has your style changed over time?
Definitely. When I first started painting I was very influenced by Rene Magritte, Surrealism, and Dada so my paintings were more trying to emulate them. But as my skills developed I began creating images that I wanted to see. The real game changer was when I saw an exhibit a few years back at the Autry Museum of Rick Bartow. Seeing his work truly inspired me to lay more into my own ancestry, my own experience, my own imagery, and a much looser form of painting.
What feelings, subjects inspire you as an artist?
Different people, other artists, the news, music, etc. Anything and everything inspires me because how could it not?
What is art born of? Can an artist create a masterpiece when he’s fed and satisfied?
I think the trope of the tortured artist is nonsense and actually dangerous. It has driven people to death thinking they needed to be something or do something to be creative. Art is just the expression of the person and that includes pain but also joy, anger, happiness, etc. And what people connect with in your art can be vastly different than the emotion you were putting into it.
What do you think contemporary art should be?
I don’t really focus on what is going on in the art world. I just do my own thing.
What invaluable lesson did you learn in the art business that took your career to the next level?
Be true to yourself and work consistently.
Can you tell us your experience with NFT? And share some tips for artists who want to enter the NFT world?
have made a couple dozen NFT 1/1s and sold out a couple collections. I would say the NFT experience has been a mixed bag. I had hoped that NFTs could really be an innovative medium that utilized art, animation, and music as a cohesive experience but the NFT community appears to be moving more toward PFP projects, randomizers, and all and all taking the humanity out of the art. There was much more going for 1/1s last year, but since then there have been a couple crypto crashes, active wallets disappearing, and creators leaving.
The only tips I have are to know what you’re getting into and why you’re getting into it.
How do you think the NFT will evolve in the near future?
Well it is already consolidating to what is most profitable. Because of the costs involved with NFTs and the speculative nature of crypto, some are prioritizing profitability over the actual art.
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