Valton Tyler
Environment Man
1970

Name: Environment Man
Brand: Valton Tyler
Rating: 5 (14 reviews)

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About the Item

In The New York Times Arts in America column, Edward M. Gomez wrote of Valton Tyler, "visionary seems the right word for describing his vivid, unusual and technically refined paintings, prints and drawings, whose style defies convenient labels. Abstract, surreal, cartoonish, sci-fi fantastic, metaphysical, apocalyptic-Baroque - all of these fit but also fall short of fully describing his art." (The Living Arts, June 13, 2000, p. B2) Valton Tyler was born in 1944 in Texas, where "the industrial world of oil refineries made a long-lasting impression on Valton as a very young child living in Texas City. He was three years old when the terrible explosion occurred there and can remember the terrifying confusion and 'the beautiful red sky and objects flying everywhere in the air.'" (Reynolds, p. 25) While growing up in Texas City, Valton's father worked in auto repair, and was known for his skill in mixing colors for paint jobs. After leaving Texas City, Valton made his way to Dallas, where he briefly enrolled at the Dallas Art Institute, but found it to be too social and commercial for his taste. After Valton's work was introduced to Donald Vogel (founder of Valley House Gallery), "Vogel arranged for Tyler to use the printmaking facilities in the art department of the Southern Methodist University in Dallas, where the young artist essentially taught himself several demanding printmaking techniques. 'It was remarkable,' Vogel says. 'Not only did he learn complicated etching methods, but he was able to express himself powerfully in whatever medium he explored.' Vogel became the publisher of Tyler's prints. Among them, the artist made editions of some 50 different images whose sometimes stringy abstract forms and more solid, architecturally arresting elements became the precursors of his later, mature style." (Gomez, Raw Vision #35, p. 36) "Environment Man" is plate number 4, and is reproduced in "The First Fifty Prints: Valton Tyler" with text by Rebecca Reynolds, published for Valley House Gallery by Southern Methodist University Press, Dallas, Texas, 1972. In "The First Fifty Prints," Reynolds wrote, "The mind-twisting problem Valton continually poses for himself in his work is an arrangement of forms we normally see in a way we do not normally see them to create a design and "environment" we soon find ourselves accepting as normal. In this plate it concerns the incorporation of his fantasy structures within a setting of architectural structures. On a secondary plane, it is a play of architectural forms. Crenelated archways and portals, shingled gables, marble columns, brick, wood, and stone walls are all described and combined to form a surface maze of passageways and culs-de-sac that force the eye to move quickly in and out of the shallow recesses across the picture plane." "The effect is not unlike a stage backdrop depicting a medieval street scene. A wooden mannequin with hinged joints and hooked hand is seated resting on the lowest step. With hand to head, he expresses the artist's mental exhaustion from the many attempts to find solutions to the formal problems in creating this "environment."" Reynolds continues, "The tiny flag which appears just above the center of the lower border of the plate is a mysterious trademark of Valton's that appears now and then in the etchings. In his first pen and ink drawings his signature usually appeared within this banner." (Reynolds, p. 52) Paper size: 24 x 24 inches Edition: 5 Artists Proofs Imp. 50 Signed Prints Imp. Bibliography: Edward M. Gomez, "Futuristic Forms Frolic Under Eerie Texan Skies," The New York Times, June 13, 2000, page B2. Edward M. Gomez, "Valton Tyler's Techno-Organic Landscapes," Raw Vision 35, Summer 2001, pages 34-39. Rebecca Reynolds, "The First Fifty Prints: Valton Tyler," published for Valley House Gallery by Southern Methodist University Press, Dallas, Texas, 1972.

Creator:
Valton Tyler (1944, American)
Creation Year:
1970
Dimensions:
Height: 9.5 in (24.13 cm)Width: 12 in (30.48 cm)
Medium:
Rag Paper,Etching
Movement & Style:
Outsider Art
Period:
1970-1979
Condition:
Gallery Location:
Dallas, TX
Reference Number:
Seller: VT-04-021stDibs: LU257397942

Valton Tyler
Freezing Point, 1971

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1930s Abstract Abstract Prints

Materials

Lithograph

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