Hi! This is a newsletter about artists I like.
I began acquiring art through some friends that worked in galleries. I started small, working on a limited budget, for stuff I could afford. As time passed, my collection grew, and it was exciting to watch many of the artists I'd collected go on to bigger shows and critical acclaim. My goal with this newsletter is to make a digestible resource for anyone interested in artists that are making great (and still affordable!) work, whom you haven't heard about... yet.
I first came across Ty’s work about 15 years ago when I worked for a clothing brand called Band of Outsiders. One of our biggest accounts/collaborators/etc was Beams Japan. I noticed that there was this artist from the USA doing these designs for them and was immediately curious. That artist was/is Ty and since then, he has done incredible work for too many brands to count.
I love Ty’s work and how easy he can go from a print show, to a custom drawing for some cool new bar/brand, to a beautiful work on canvas and managing to make it all look easy. I got to travel with him for a quick trip and he always had a notebook and pen on hand drawing/sketching/etc.
What I find refreshing about Ty’s work and practice is that his work is that you can buy a sticker from him of an original design to a beautiful work on canvas ie. you have options. He just released a a 2024 calendar that’s excellent too.
For prints etc. please go to our other friend, Imagine Fine Art Printing.
From an outsider, you are always working and also always on the move around the world. How do you find the time to make the actual work? Whether it’s an original work, a print, or design for a brand?
TW: I can tell you that, as an insider, i don't feel like im on the move enough..i guess that is perspective or some type of psychosis. I live for movement, and being on the go. I take a lot of inspiration from traveling.
When it comes to work I tend to improvise a bit while traveling. I always have drawing materials with me. I sketch on planes and while I’m waiting for hours for a boat or a missed connection. Paintings I also can whip up so long as I have access to a hardware store and some space in or outside. I like the changing environments while making. I suppose that looseness is unusual for most artists but for me it keeps me interested in it.
Can you share some images of your studio AND/OR stuff you are working on?
Could you talk a bit about your partnership with Imagine Fine Art and your current release of new prints ? How did this come to be?
TW: Kelly, my print studio partner and owner of Imagine went to college with me years ago. We were close friends before the print business via surfing and both having spent time in Asia. Me in Japan and Kelly in South Korea.
Kelly is an immensely talented photographer so he has a sharp eye for print and reproducing images. Over the years with the studio we have both grown and pushed each other on the business side of it and it’s been inspiring to see what works for us. / in regards to new prints we try and scurry the line of only offering certain pieces so that we don’t effect sales of original work. Often times I won’t put a print up until long after a painting or drawing has sold. The pieces that recently went into the store ,for example, are from a show I had in Ventura CA at Indoek gallery in August. We do from time to time ,put a small offering of originals in the store to supplement the print offerings. I feel that it’s nice for a customer to have the option to buy an original already framed and ready to hang.
Hopefully, people come here to learn more about great artists that they can then support by buying work but at the very least, learn more about artists and their practice. Can you describe your style and how you started?
I feel as though my style is a blend of things but primarily illustration and early folk art with some whimsical elements mixed in. I am not sure really how to answer that. sorry.
I started drawing when i was very young because my mom always had art supplies around. my mom is crafty and thrifty so we made a lot of fun art at home. I believe that a lot of how it started and how it is still going stems from making things at our kitchen table. i eventually got into skateboarding and surfing and from those came a thirst for graphics and designs. i was immensely inspired by skate and surf mags, and the artists creating those images in the 90s. when i wasn't skating i was reading the mags and drawing. i grew up working in restaurants on the seacoast of maine, and my parents owned and operated one for a few years when i was younger. I realize that my style is also inspired by those years with color, and logos from food deliveries and liquor labels- ironically many years later i create a lot of designs for restaurants and wine labels.
What are some resources that you could share for our readers that may not be in a big city and have access to museums/galleries etc. anything online or a magazine /. A book that’s been interesting to you?
TW: I love print. Im a sucker for magazines in particular and I love taking a bath and having a magazine on hand to give the phone A break. I love aprtamento, (I think it’s perhaps one of the most perfect publications going right now, surfers journal , primitive skills, and old copies of world of interiors.
Who should we have on next?
TW: Elizabeth Atterbury / Angelo Vasta
It's fun to see this feature - we love Ty's work! My partner and I learned of his whimsical work while living in Burlington, Vermont, and we are so happy to have brought a few of his pieces into our new home in Richmond, Virginia!