Luis Tyler
Art in America
Nov 1, 2019
In his latest solo exhibition at the Marlowe Gallery in Los Angeles, expressionist painter Luis Tyler delivers a visceral punch of color and gesture that refuses to be ignored. Known for his emotionally charged canvases and kinetic brushwork, Tyler continues to push the boundaries of abstraction with a rawness that feels both ancient and immediate. The show, titled Veins of the Sky, features twelve large-scale works that seem to pulse with internal weather systems—storms of pigment, memory, and movement.
Tyler, who came to painting after a decade as a jazz percussionist, brings a rhythmic sensibility to his compositions. His canvases are not so much painted as performed—each mark a beat, each smear a syncopation. In Red Echoes, a 7-foot-wide canvas dominated by crimson and slate, the viewer is drawn into a vortex of layered emotion that feels almost sculptural in its depth.
Critics have long compared Tyler’s work to that of the Abstract Expressionists, but his influences are more global and contemporary. He cites Yoruba textiles, Basquiat’s urgency, and the choreography of Pina Bausch as key inspirations. There’s a spiritual undertow to his work, a sense that each painting is a ritual of release.
Tyler, who came to painting after a decade as a jazz percussionist, brings a rhythmic sensibility to his compositions. His canvases are not so much painted as performed—each mark a beat, each smear a syncopation. In Red Echoes, a 7-foot-wide canvas dominated by crimson and slate, the viewer is drawn into a vortex of layered emotion that feels almost sculptural in its depth.
Critics have long compared Tyler’s work to that of the Abstract Expressionists, but his influences are more global and contemporary. He cites Yoruba textiles, Basquiat’s urgency, and the choreography of Pina Bausch as key inspirations. There’s a spiritual undertow to his work, a sense that each painting is a ritual of release.
Luis Tyler
(1930 - 2016)
