Meet Tyler Scully | Artist | Painter | Sculptor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Tyler Scully and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Tyler, what inspires you?
As far back as I can remember, I was always interested in art, probably stemming from my love of video games and video game manuals with their rich, detailed art. The obvious is that other artists influence me. My favorite artist is René Magritte for his poetic and enigmatic surrealism; other big influences are Rick Bartow, Fritz Scholder, Francis Bacon, William Kentridge, and Marlene Dumas.
Surrealism and Dada ideals such as anti-art, subconscious introspection, and left-wing politics play a major role in my work. I think a lot that though has been whitewashed in public discourse, while I really embrace that in my work.
The final major factor is music; from punk, noise, dubstep, house, jazz, pop, hip-hop, etc., I listen to a lot of different music that inspires my work. Music continues my humanist connection. On Instagram, I have started always adding music to posts to kind of get the viewer in my mindset.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
What sets me apart from others is that my work is a direct reflection of me. The easiest way to describe my current work would be expressionism, often focused on abstract portraits filled with symbolism related to my Hawaiian and Irish heritage and current American culture. The challenge of reflecting that in the work often turns my work into some pretty dark subject matter and that isn’t always people’s taste. But I would rather confront these things than look away and just paint a pretty picture.

I am currently working on a new body of work that focuses more on a focus of the inhumanity we are currently going through in America and the world and relating it back to historical images that are parallel. I want the narrative of the work to be larger than the small intimate portraits I have been doing.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Here are some suggestions that will take you all over LA county.

Museums:
CAAM, Autry, LACMA, Hammer and MOCA

Galleries:
Gagosian, The Hive, Timothy Hawkinson, Dark Art Emporium, Open Gallery, Hauser & Wirth, La Luz De Jesus Gallery, XZBT Gallery just so many to be honest.

Drinks:
Covell, Dresden, Tonga Hut, Tabala Rasa Bar, Haley’s Wines, Art Du Vin, The Vine, Forman’s Whiskey Tavern, Buvons, Baby Gee

Food:
Proof Bakery, Alder & Sage, El Carpintero, Lacha Somtum, Gusto, The Shrimp Lover (specifically in Thai Town), Liv’s, Grill’Em All, Sogo, Hail Mary Pizza, Compagnon Bistro

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would really love for the work of Rick Bartow to be more widely recognized. It was after seeing a Rick Bartow exhibit that it expanded my artistic practice, and I decided to incorporate more of my personal heritage and views as well as abstracting more and more of the figure. There is a show at Timothy Hawinson in LA that everyone should go to.

Website: https://www.tylerscully.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/specters_art

Twitter: https://bsky.app/profile/spectersart.bsky.social

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/specters

Other: https://linktr.ee/Tylerscully
https://www.threads.com/@specters_art