Artist Statement

My fundemental goal is to create a beautiful work of art; but upon closer inspection, my imagery often reveals a surprising message in the guise of something far more tame. The unusual does not frighten me. Though I strive to make exquisitely layered paintings, I also use the canvas as place to share and document what I am thinking. It can be a daunting challenge to use a visual language to express my very wordy thoughts. Thus details are everything. Any small object in a piece can carry significant meaning. For my aesthetic, the greatness of art, and its charm, is in the details and their accumulation.

My paintings are frequently inspired by something unconventional and can be highly narrative or even fable like. I admire unusual people who had the courage to be themselves and follow their own star. The characters I depict can be historical, fictional, celebrity or personal acquaintances; but they often possess a beauty unappreciated by mainstream culture or values. The story I might be telling is a departure point from which I craft an image. The painting should intrigue and delight the viewer regardless of whether the events or characters are recognized or not. The essence of the meaning should be decipherable even if the particulars are unknown. Once I select my subjects and compositions, what consumes nearly all of my time on a work, is the monumental effort to make the artwork look right, to be well painted.

I obsess over the quality of the painted image. The surface of the work is rich because of the many layers of paint applied over months or even years to achieve the fullness and complexity of color and diversity of value that makes the paintings glow. I paint, repaint and repaint until I am satisfied with every element. I look right through the occasional car crashes, corpses, freaks, or unattractive people on my canvases and just see gorgeous painting, color, brush work and layering.

I consider myself a colorist and remain an inventive painter. Just because I have painted something before, such as sky, water or flesh, I do not know how I will paint those same subjects the next time. I have no formulas or routines. I have to discover how to paint a subject in each and every new painting. There is very little repetition. I have to reinvent the wheel every time. Because of this I am not a particularly prolific painter. Almost all of my work takes at least a year to complete, yet I do work on multiple pieces at a time. I also do not work in series, I have to find a new subject and story for each work. This keeps me very interested in my own work, slows down my output, but ensures the uniqueness and freshness of each painting. I am not a production painter, there are no shortcuts and I value each individual painting.

In addition to cleverness of composition, color and stroke, an important part of the beauty of a work is its craftsmanship. I build my canvases myself. I have rarely used acrylic gesso as a preparation but instead follow a laborious process of sizing with hide glue and then coating with oil primer. True, this is better for conservation, in fact the painting could actually be removed from the canvas if need be, but I just like the surface and solidity it gives as well as confidence in the durability of the painting. I always paint with oil paint, but the sides are acrylic for the sake of practicality. I do not varnish the work as I prefer a matte and varied surface and hate a reflective surface that can make the image hard to see from certain angles. Most of the paintings are wired for easier hanging, but the best way to hang them is with sawtooth clips on two corners diagonally opposed. That holds the canvas flush to the wall and it never has to be straightened.

I am also a painter of the amazing Colorado landscape, especially the Maroon Bells area near Aspen where I grew up and the valley I live in near Boulder. I also enjoy painting and drawing the figure and the animated conversations that happen around a card table at a bridge game or at a meal. Italy, France, Nantucket, the beach and the mountains are frequently the settings of my paintings. Most recently, I have been transforming my drawings into new works with digital media.

Third Person Biography:

Tyler Alpern is an artist and painter living in Colorado. His work can be described as technically accomplished narrative painting with a contemporary slant and painterly style. He is not frightened by the unusual, and embraces the beautiful. He was educated at Occidental College in Los Angeles, at two different schools in Rome, Italy, and earned his MFA from the University of Colorado. His work has been sold to collectors living on both coasts, inbetween and in Australia. His work is currently on display at Cliffside on Nantucket, and is represented by Artworks Agency in Colorado. Locally Tyler's paintings were shown many times at both the Boulder Public Library and the University of Colorado. Tyler curated and exhibited work at Boulder's Dairy Center for the Arts and at the University of Colorado. In 2007, his controversial peice 'Denail' represented the letter D in Art from A to Z, and Tyler appeared in and on the cover of the new James Spada book. In 2008, his portrait of Yma Sumac was featured on the cover of her biography. An article about Tyler and his work appeared in Urban Molecule and Edge New York. In 2009, Tyler authored 3 books and had 2 exhibitions of his paintings. His works and collaborations have been included in exhibitions at the Kinsey Institute and will be in a shows at Naropa University and in Longmont planned for 2012. A constant source of inspriation and learning are the college students of all ages that Tyler has taught for nearly 20 years. Collaborating with his students, Tyler has created a number of murals at the University of Colorado and on University Hill. An amateur historian, Tyler also researches and reveals fascinating stories that sometimes are documented and retold in his paintings. Gender, beauty, movement and form are some of the subjects Tyler has explored in his many collaborations with other artists. Posing for pioneering gay artist Don Bachardy brought together Tyler's love of art and his deep interest in gay history. Tyler is a direct descendant of The Malbim and the rabbinical Halperin family of Lithuania and his own daughter shares his keen eye, sharp memory and many sensitivities. Cycling the canyons of Boulder, art nouveau, and a new found passion for drawing are the inspirations for some of his latest work.

Photo by Tom Clark 2010

Article in Edge New York