Gary Tyler
Doing textile work gives me an opportunity to be able to utilize fabric in a most creative way that I never thought really existed. It’s something that I feel that’s empowering. It tends to really manifest who I am as an individual.
In 1974, at the age of 16, Gary Tyler was wrongly convicted of murder and placed on death row at Angola State Penitentiary in Louisiana. He endured nearly 42 years there, during which the US Supreme Court ruled his sentencing unconstitutional, and was finally released in 2016. While incarcerated, Tyler participated in the prison hospice program, where he mastered the art of quilting, and chaired the prison drama club for almost three decades, using the transformative power of the arts to confront the challenges of incarceration. Now residing in Los Angeles, Tyler dedicates his life to the visual and dramatic arts, using them as tools to foster community and heal the scars of mass incarceration.
Gary Tyler is represented by Detroit-based gallery Library Street Collective. Please contact info@lscgallery.com for more information.
CV
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2024 - Solo Presentation, Frieze Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
2023 - We are the Willing, Library Street Collective, Detroit, MI
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024 - Untitled Art Fair, Library Street Collective, Miami, FL
2024 - Expo Chicago, Library Street Collective, Chicago, IL
2023 - The Armory Show, Library Street Collective, New York, NY
2023 - SIX at NINE, Azadeh Shladovsky Studio, Los Angeles, CA
2011 - Grace Before Dying, A traveling exhibition curated by Lori Waselchuk, Hartford, CA; Amherst, MA; Oregon City, OR; Pensacola, FL; Shreveport, LA; Washington, DC
Selected Public and Private Collections
Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture
George Soros Institute
Selected Awards and Press
2024 Right of Return Fellow, Center for Art & Advocacy
2024 Frieze Los Angeles Impact Impact Prize, Frieze & Center for Art & Advocacy
2020 Art Matters Grantee
2019 Art Matters Grantee
Gary Tyler: Wrongly Imprisoned For Decades, Robert Scheer for Huff Post
Like A Butterfly: The Artistry Of Gary Tyler, Tom Teicholz for Forbes
He Was Wrongfully Imprisoned for 41 Years. Now He Has His First Solo Exhibition, Teresa Nowakowski for Smithsonian Magazine
Gary Tyler’s Powerful Story Is Woven Throughout New Exhibition, ‘We Are The Willing’, Okla Jones for Essence
Gary Tyler, Artist Wrongfully Imprisoned for 41 Years, Awarded 2024 Frieze L.A. Impact Prize (Exclusive), Nicole Fell for The Hollywood