Check Out Tyler Schwarz’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tyler Schwarz

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I was born in A small town in Southern Ontario, Canada into lush farmlands where my first jobs where working for Mennonites. I grew up knowing far life but not being of it. I learned how to fish and explore a world without fences. It was a beautiful childhood. I spent a lot of my time outside but loved drawing and played trumpet in middle school. I knew pretty early that I was a creative type. My parents had divorced when I was 5 and by the time I became a teen I was ripe for rebellion. It was the 90s and I joined a band in high school, informed by Tool, Rage against the machine and Nine inch nails. I knew I was destined for a love of the arts. My first love after music was literature, I read Henry Miller, Rimbaud, Baudelaire and Dostoevsky first and the wild heart in me bloomed. It became apparent to me that i didn’t want to be streamlined into a career so early as I hadn’t any understanding of myself or the world yet. Instead I left home and moved to Vancouver, British Colombia when I was 19. My childhood was great at times and my mother was a suppoortive force, but I’d had enough trauma to make leaving home an attractive idea.
From there I started working anywhere I could and travelling south, first to California and then extensively through Mexico, which was a life changing experience. I was able to experience the country before the cartell wars. When I was 25 I lost my best friend to suicide and realized that the vagabond life came with consequences. I settled in Los Angeles and joined a band. We toured and made a couple of records but the reality of life as a musician was a bad fit for me. During that time I took up painting and I was quickly enamored with the process. My first real artistic peoject was “Revolutionary women of the 20th Century”. A portrait and biography book that took me over 10 years to publish. The project was inspired by the women who raised me but focused on the heroes of the global movement in the early to late 20th century who revolutionized the sovereign existence of women. Camille Claudel, Phoolan Devi and Tina Modotti were just a few of the women I studied and painted.
Around this time, I met an incredible woman who I would later marry, and we are celebrating 13 years of marriage this summer. Once the book was completed i turned to painting the people who inspired me most as music was concerned. It was a good way to paint everyday without having to create my own source material. Over the years I’ve painted almost 100 portraits of musicians. All of which I truly loved and had been inspired by. In 2016 I sold a full band portrait of Led Zeppelin to Adam Jones of the band TOOL, one of my biggest influences. It was a surreal moment but his advice as an artist was to shift away from painting famous people and it planted a seed. Ironically, a few years later he also bought a band portrait of Ramones from me. Despite the adrenaline of those moments i knew wanted to move on to something more personal. In 2020 my wife and I had the urge to change scenery. We moved to Atlanta in 2021 for a closer family connection and for the love of the city. We had been married in Atlanta, and we had visited often, each trip brought us closer to realizing that Atlanta was the next chapter for us. We found our spot in Grant Park and along with our 12 year old rescue dog, Mr. Boozer we’ve bee enjoying the slow down Atlanta has offered us. Two new painting from my new series of work based on farm workers and the struggle associated will be showing at the Supermarket gallery on August 23rd. I am Currently planning a new series of paintings based my own photography instead of sourced photos, but i still work on a commission basis regularly and may still even paint the occasional rock star.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I think being artistically minded is like any other endeavor. Life is hard, but can seem easy depending on your mindset. My struggles aren’t even worth mentioning compared to the struggles of others that I’ve encountered or read about.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’ve been told that my likeness is very good. But I don’t feel I’ve reached my goals as an artist and I work hard to grow. I’m proud of my persistence because to stick any discipline takes a very strong will. Each one of us has our own signature on what we do, just create something, anything- and you’ll stand out.

Do you any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
As early as I can remember I was on Ice skates. As a Canadian I spent most of my winter on the hockey rink. My favorite childhood memory has to be a late night with fresh ice and a light snowfall shooting some pucks around with my dad.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.fineartbytyler.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fineartbytyler

Image Credits:
Tyler Schwarz