Gary Tyler — We are the Willing

Library Street Collective is thrilled to present, We are the Willing, the first solo gallery exhibition by Los Angeles-based artist Gary Tyler, curated by Allison Glenn, opening on July 8th, 2023. Taken from the first lines of the motto for the Angola Prison drama club, which Tyler was president of for 28 years. “We are the willing” became an anchor for the artist, propelling him to think expansively about the potential impact his leadership could have on the shape of the drama club; where relied on the space of performance to increase prison literacy and for members to have a cathartic release through self-expression.

Growing up in St. Charles Parish, Louisiana, Tyler remembers his mother, Juanita Tyler, creating stylish dresses for herself and his sisters, from patterns sold in the JCPenney and Sears catalogs. His grandmother was a quilter, creating ornate designs from discarded clothes and newspapers. It’s as if the ready made has always had a place in Tyler’s oeuvre. This familial knowledge of textiles was useful for Tyler, employing it to patch his clothes, and in his graphic quilt designs sold at the Angola Rodeo. In the mid-1970s, Tyler used readily accessible materials, including matchsticks and cigarette boxes, to create picture frames and jewelry boxes; calling to mind Henry Taylor’s early paintings and the shadow boxes of reclusive assemblage artist Joseph Cornell. Primarily working in textiles, Tyler learned to sew when he joined the Angola Prison Hospice Program, where participants created and sold elaborate handmade quilts to fund the program.

Butterflies, flowers, and brightly-colored abstractions were common themes found in the applique patterned quilts he made in Angola. For Tyler, the image of the butterfly is symbolic of his life’s transformation, from being wrongly accused of murder at 16, to release from Angola 41 ½ years later. Although the butterfly remains a strong, recurring motif in Tyler’s work, this new body of applique quilts are created from photographs and images of his time incarcerated, many of which are on view in the vitrines that line the gallery walls.

This series of self-portraits, all created within the past year, are a point of departure for Tyler. Here, we see the artist maintaining a strong textile practice, yet focusing instead on revisiting photographs and videos that documented his time in Angola. Suspended from the ceiling and hung from the walls at various depths, these works call to mind artist and political activist Pacita Abad’s trapuntos, or high relief textile paintings.

Gary Tyler: We are the Willing will be on view from July 8th, 2023 through September 6th, 2023 at Library Street Collective.