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:
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.
I would say my art is about humanity. I want to create portraits that transcend portraiture and seek to create the emotion to connect with anyone.
If we are going by 2022 I would say that humans have failed each other greatly. And that failure weighs heavy on us all because we are seeing the inhumanity of people on display everyday.
I don’t think it needs to make sense logically.
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.
Different people, other artists, the news, music, etc. Anything and everything inspires me because how could it not?
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.
I don’t really focus on what is going on in the art world. I just do my own thing.
Be true to yourself and work consistently.
I 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.
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.
