William Tyler

Born 1954, Cincinnati, Ohio
Has practiced at Creative Growth since 1978

William Tyler has been an artist at Creative Growth since 1978. His precise, ordered ink drawings consist of personal narratives in the form of repeated patterns and dense blocks of text. Tyler’s uncanny ability to recall events and dates from his life and the world around him is evident on the page through his long and poetic stories. He will often include his own self-portrait in the work, most often side-by-side with his twin brother Richard. Upon close reflection of Tyler’s oeuvre, each piece is wholly distinct in its content and detail. While his palette is typically limited to black and white, the repetition of his lines create extraordinary visual textures with neatly drawn stippling, thin and tidy lines, and complex pattern-making. Much of Tyler’s work examines the ideas of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, with detailed examples. He then evaluates a synthesis of objects, actions, news, personal narratives on his moral scale - ‘NO MORE CALENDARS; NO SWIMMING; NO MORE NAKED.’

William Tyler ha sido artista en Creative Growth desde 1978. Sus dibujos en tinta precisos y ordenados consisten en narraciones personales en forma de patrones repetidos y densos bloques de texto. La extraña habilidad de Tyler para recordar eventos y fechas de su vida y el mundo que lo rodea es evidente en la página a través de sus largas y poéticas historias. A menudo incluirá su propio autorretrato en el trabajo, la mayoría de las veces al lado de su hermano gemelo Richard. Al reflexionar de cerca sobre la obra de Tyler, cada pieza es completamente distinta en su contenido y detalle. Si bien su paleta generalmente se limita al blanco y negro, la repetición de sus líneas crea texturas visuales extraordinarias con punteado cuidadosamente dibujado, líneas finas y ordenadas y patrones complejos. Gran parte del trabajo de Tyler examina las ideas de "correcto" e "incorrecto", con ejemplos detallados. Luego evalúa una síntesis de objetos, acciones, noticias y narrativas personales en su escala moral: 'NO MÁS CALENDARIOS; NO NADAR; NO MÁS DESNUDO.’

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2022
Outsider Art Fair, New York

2021
Can’t Beat California, Golestani Gallery, Düsseldorf

2020
Outsider Art Fair, New York
Felix Art Fair, Los Angeles
Monochromatic Minds, Jennifer Lauren Gallery, London
Inter-Avant-Garde, Nebraska Wesleyan University, Lincoln

2019
Outsider Art Fair, Paris
TWA Trans World, Galerie Oblique, Switzerland
Gifted: The Self-Taught Genius of Creative Growth, Nina Johnson Gallery, Miami, curated by Kim Hastreiter

2017
Storytellers, LAND Gallery, Brooklyn

2016
Madmusée, Liège, Belgium
836M, San Francisco
Outside, Karma, Amagansett, New York, curated by Matthew Higgs

2015
We Are Not Alone, Fountain Gallery, New York, curated by Matthew Higgs
D’Dessin Paris Contemporary Drawing Fair, Paris
Indigo Mind, StoreFrontLab, San Francisco
Extra Celestial, Crosstown Arts, Memphis

2014
Mental Contours III - Lines of Force, Artinbox Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic

2013
Outsider Art Fair, New York
ParkLife Gallery, San Francisco
Drawing Now Fair, Paris
Margins to Mainstream, Sonoma County Museum, Santa Rosa
Undercover Genius, Petaluma Arts Center, Petaluma
Create, BOCA Museum of Art, Boca Raton
Superduper Market, New York

2012
Outsider Art Fair, New York
Independent Art Fair, New York
Frieze Art Fair, New York
Creative Growth, Rachel Uffner Gallery, New York, curated by Amie Scally
Surface Design, Art Works Downtown, San Rafael, curated by Virginia Breier
Different and Special, Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art, Korea
The Feverish Library, Friedrich Petzel Gallery, New York, curated by Matthew Higgs
John Hiltunen +1, Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, curated by Matthew Higgs
Art Brut/Bande Dessinée, RIZOMI_art brut, Turin, Italy

2011
Create, Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley
Exhibition #4, Museum of Everything, London
New Art Dealers Alliance Art Fair, Miami
REVEALED, Galerie Drylewicz, Paris

2010
Outsider Art Fair, New York

2009
Galerie Giti Nourbakhsch, Berlin, curated by Matthew Higgs

2008
Armory Show, New York
Port of Oakland, Oakland

2007
New Art Dealers Alliance Art Fair, Miami
Gensler Architecture, San Francisco