Gary Tyler is a fiber artist, living and working in Los Angeles, California. For over four decades, Tyler has been working at the intersection of art and social justice, teaching himself how to quilt to support the Angola Prison Hospice program, where he was a volunteer. For three decades, Tyler was the President of the Angola Prison drama program, using the position to promote a culture of community, civic responsibility, and optimism. At the age of 16, Tyler was sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit. Though his case was the subject of international outcry, the artist spent 42 years in Angola State Penitentiary in Louisiana before being released at the age of 57. Although his artistic practice was born out of injustice, it eminently generates hope. Tyler is a 2019 and 2020 Art Matters Awardee, and his work is in the collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.
Installation view of Gary Tyler: We are the Willing, curated by Allison Glenn at Library Street Collective (July 2023)
“Doing textile work gives me an opportunity to be able to utilize fabric in a most creative way that I never thought really existed. It’s something that I feel that’s empowering. It tends to really manifest who I am as an individual.”
— Gary Tyler
Selected Work
Gary Tyler
One of World's Wonders: African Giant Swallowtail Butterfly, 2023
Quilting Fabric, Burlap, Thread, and Batting
51.5h x 71.5w in
Gary Tyler
Remembrance, 2023
Quilting Fabric, Thread, and Batting
96h x 108w in
Gary Tyler
Rebirth, 2023
Quilting Fabric, Thread, and Batting
36h x 48w in
Press
March 10, 2024
He was wrongfully imprisoned for 40 years. Now he’s an award-winning artist: ‘I turned my past into something good’
The Guardian
March 1, 2024
Santa Monica Art Bank and California African American Museum make opening-day acquisitions at Frieze Los Angeles
The Art Newspaper
February 29, 2024
At Frieze LA, Gary Tyler Finds Resilience after Prison—in Each Stitch of His Poignant Quilts
ArtNews
August 16, 2023
The radical L.A. student newspaper that inspired a generation of activists
Los Angeles Times
Augusst 8, 2023
August 8, 2023 Like A Butterfly: The Artistry Of Gary Tyler
Forbes
August 7, 2023
Stitched up: prisoner on death row turns unjust jailing into an artform
The Times
August 3, 2023
He Was Wrongfully Imprisoned for 41 Years. Now He Has His First Solo Exhibition
Smithsonian Magazine
July 17, 2023
Gary Tyler’s Powerful Story Is Woven Throughout New Exhibition, ‘We Are The Willing’
Hyperallergic
July 17, 2023
Gary Tyler’s Powerful Story Is Woven Throughout New Exhibition, ‘We Are The Willing
Essence Magazine
July 15, 2023
Gary Tyler, who spent 42 years on death row, opens quilt exhibit in Detroit
Detroit Free Press
July 8, 2023
Gary Tyler: Artist Talk and Opening Reception
Detroit Metro Times
July 7, 2023
Gary Tyler, then and now: From class war prisoner to artist
World Socialist Web Site
July 6, 2023
A Quilter Reclaims his Image
T Magazine