Tyree Guyton - The Artist ...saying, seeing...feeling

Tyree Guyton
Biography | Collections | Exhibits | Awards
Statement from the Artist | Resume and CV (pdf)

"Primarily a painter and sculptor, Tyree Guyton has also been described as an urban environmental artist. He has waged a personal war on urban blight on Detroit's East Side, transforming first a street in his neighborhood, and then two city blocks into a living indoor/outdoor art gallery by using discarded objects he found - everything from old shoes to bicycles to baby dolls - to embellish abandoned houses, sidewalks and empty lots."

Alison Carb Sussman , Contemporary Black Biography - Volume 9

Biography

Through his art, Guyton has drawn attention to the plight of Detroit's forgotten neighborhoods and spurred discussion and action. He continues to live and work in the city, working with children on Heidelberg Street almost daily as he guides the Heidelberg Project forward with energy and inspiration. He has also shared his vision around the world.

Collections:

Charles Wright Museum of African American History

Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI

Kresge Art Museum, Lansing, MI

University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, MI

Studio Museum of Harlem, New York, NY

Numerous Private and Corporate Collections

back to top

Exhibits:

Guyton's art has been exhibited around the world, including Hungary, Australia, Brazil, France, Italy, Russia, Japan, Germany, Michigan, California, New York and many others.

Guyton's work has been featured in numerous art and academic institutions including:

Wayne State University - Elaine Jacobs Gallery

Auburn University

Detroit Institute of Art

Charles Wright Museum of African American History

Delaware Art Institute

Harvard University

University of Indiana

Michigan State University

University of Michigan Museum of Art

Minnesota Museum of American Art

Art in Embassies Program Exhibition in American Embassy Quito, Ecuador

back to top

Awards include:

Award for Artistic Excellence (City of Detroit, 2007)

Spirit of Giving Award (Franklin Wright Settlements - Detroit, MI, 2007)

Joyce Award (The Joyce Foundation, Chicago, IL, 2007)

Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence (2005)

Environmental Design Research Association (2004)

Wayne County International Artist Award (2003)

Award of Recognition, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick (2002)

Humanity in the Arts Award, Wayne State University (1992)

Governor's Arts Award (1992)

Michiganian of the Year Award (1991)

Spirit of Detroit Award (1989)

back to top

Media coverage includes:

Newsweek, New York Times, Time Magazine, People Magazine, The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Detroit News, The Detroit Free Press, The Boston Globe, The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, Essence Magazine, USA Today, National Public Radio, Morning Edition, Reuters, Connoisseur Magazine, Good Morning America, NBC Nightly News and numerous international publications

back to top

ARTIST STATEMENT

I strive to be a part of the solution. I see and understand how order is needed in the world and in our individual lives. My experiences have granted me knowledge of how to create art and how to see beauty in everything that exists.

Even in the smallest molecule or things in this life that we can't see, we are all bound by this same energy, we are all bound by gravity and we breathe the same air. I can see the evolution of life in everything, in every minute second. How beautiful it is to witness this process in action. What is beyond space and can we possibly look that far into ourselves?

What is art? I ask myself this question over and over. Is my life an art form? I began to see and hear my own work in a new way that opened up my third eye of wisdom and my mind to see how everything is connected to this one source of energy or this divine power. I believe that it will take a life time for me to understand and appreciate this power. However, I find my art to be just like that power of creating energy in a negative space. It is this energy that becomes my focal point.

The word composition according to Webster's Dictionary means to form by putting together; to make up from many ingredients, etc. I have come to the realization of knowing and understanding the fact that I have been called to create art that is unusual and compositional in form. The traditional and conventional way is a thing of the past. We live in a world full of corruption from the top to the bottom, values no longer exist and rules are broken everyday. For me, art is a way of expressing life.

My work is a science that deals with colors, shapes, objects that brings about a rare beauty to the mind and eyes of people, a type of esthete. My art is life, life that lives on with time because the entire creation is an art form.

I see magic in what I do as an artist. This magic helps me to understand how to create compositions of unusual taste. It's a journey that keeps me searching to know more about life in general and my own life. The whole world is a stage and we, as humans, are playing our part—acting out our purpose.

Tyree Guyton -2005/06