Tyson Andree: The Process
March 7 - April 20, 2014
Tyson Andree (b. 1979) grew up in Brookline, MA, and learned at an early age about the graffiti art movement from his first grade teacher, Mr. P. Andree quickly became enamored with the images he saw in the publications Subway Art and Spraycan Art, which opened his eyes to the graffiti around Boston. In 1986, he started to embrace the lifestyle. He began writing graffiti at age 6, and was fully immersed in the culture by age 14. He has been a prolific artist on and off the streets since. After graduating Brookline High School, he attended Lewis and Clark College in Portland, OR. He also received formal training workshops at the Rhode Island School of Design, where he encountered Shepard Fairey (OBEY) as well as other influential graffiti and fine artists. Andree was among the longest active graffiti writers in Boston’s history, but life circumstances encouraged him to stop in 2010.
After over 20 years of painting graffiti, Andree now solely produces Fine Art. For the past fifteen years, Tyson found solace in painting on canvas. Freed from the boundaries of letters in his graffiti name, he explored new gestural as well as tightly controlled compositions. The essence of Andree’s work is derived from the spontaneity of street art mingled with his own fearlessstyle. Recently, Andree has begun producing paintings on glass. The inspiration came from is experience painting the inside of abandoned warehouse windows. Since the works on glass are viewed from the unpainted side, the process requires the artist to work and think backwards. Realizing that the first lines will appear in the foreground and the final touches will emerge in the background when viewed on verso, there is little room for error. Andree uses a razor blade to scrape sections away and then repaints, allowing the layers to take on subliminal forms. The aesthetic of Tyson’s work combines figurative elements derived from graffiti with his own compositional vernacular. Our exhibition, The Process: Works on Glass (March 7th – April 20th, 2014), will unveil these innovative paintings by Tyson Andree for the first time.
Over the past few years of knowing Tyson, I have seen him transform from a street artist to a fine painter. Tyson does not look back in regret; rather, he embraces his experiences and credits those graffiti artists that taught him what he knows now. His work has transpired onto the stage of the contemporary art world, and his peers recognize him as a trendsetter.