about me

bio

Tyson Robertson holds an MFA in Studio Art from NYU and a BFA in Photography from Parsons School of Design. My work centers on explorations of masculinity, dissecting identity, societal expectations, and evolving gender roles. I challenge stereotypes and celebrate diverse expressions of manhood, using images to revisit, reinterpret, and question collective stories.

artist statement

I often have many ideas but create very few of them. I love the idea of the ideas. Ideas are often more interesting than tangible conclusions of an idea. I often go off on tangents and moves from idea to idea without finishing any of them. I love Wikipedia. I love Wikipedia because it allows me to search something of interest, see a link inside of that original article, perhaps two or three links, open those links into new tabs, and find three links to open into new tabs in each one of those new links. I don’t read the original Wikipedia article I opened.

My work utilizes a myriad of techniques to explore the ideas of identity, culture, and human behavior. I use different media to expand my visual vocabulary as an artist and to push the idea of what it means to be an artist. I also intend to explore things that can be difficult to verbally speak about. Through digital technologies, traditional tools, photography, object making, and performance I give these stories a lexicon that was otherwise not represented.

I am tired of white privilege in the art world. I seek to make work that allows my own privilege to be challenged. I encourage other artists to question their own privilege.

I was born in Central California, raised in Florida, and live in NYC. I have built three lowrider cars, a gold schwin bike, and have taken hundreds of thousands of pictures since 2003.

selected cv

Born Fresno, CA 1983

Lives and works in Florida

EDUCATION

2014
MFA, Studio Art, New York University, New York, NY

2011
BFA, Photography Parsons School of Design, New York, NY

2009
AAS, Photography Daytona State College, Daytona Beach, Florida

RESIDENCIES
2012 Atlantic Center for the Arts
2008 Crealde School of Art

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS (* denotes solo)

2015
*Peonies, Gallery 208, Tallahassee, FL
From Crenshaw to Woodward, Scarab Club, Detroit, MI

2014
MFA Thesis Show, 80WSE Gallery, New York, NY
*I Never Knew/I Always Knew, 80WSE Gallery, New York, NY

2013
S’Long As It’s Yours, Gallery Aferro, Newark, NJ
First Year Show, The Commons Gallery, New York, NY

2012
The Take Aways, Gallery 355, New York, NY
INsideOUT, Atlantic Center for the Arts, New Smyrna Beach, FL

2011
Raw Substance, Art Kitchen, Newark, NJ
*Unseen Histories, Gallery 355, New York, NY
Pinup Photofeast, Milk Gallery, New York, NY
Fantasy and Desire, Three Gallery, New York, NY
Parsons Thesis, Calumet Gallery, New York, NY

2010
Friars Lantern, Shelia C. Johnson Design Center, New York, NY
Coney Island, Arnold and Shelia Aronson Hallway, New York, NY

2009
The Artist Book, Adam & Sophie Gimbel Design Library, New York, NY
Departures, Southeast Museum of Photography, Daytona Beach, FL

2008
Crealde Artist Show, Alice and William Jenkins Gallery, Winter Park, FL
Beaux Arts, University of Miami, Miami, FL
Florida Artist Series, Datran Center, Miami, FL

2007
Fine Art Photography, Osceola Center for the Arts, Kissimmee, FL
Design Student Show, Anita S. Wooten Gallery, Orlando, FL

AWARDS

2012
Joan Mitchell Foundation Artist Grant

2010
Studio in a School Grant

COLLECTIONS

Southeast Museum of Photography, Daytona Beach, FL

Daytona State College, Daytona Beach, FL