Daily Inspiration: Meet Tyrus Lytton

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tyrus Lytton.

Hi Tyrus, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I was that 11-year-old kid whose Batman drawing won Atlanta’s Power 99 radio contest for concert tickets—the ones your sister desperately wanted for that boy band everyone was dying to see perform at Six Flags: New Kids on the Block. My origin story didn’t involve tragedy or mystery; it was just a kid with pencil and crayon.
Back then, I was the classmate you came to for custom Trapper Keeper cover art to keep your desk looking fresh while you cross-multiplied fractions to find the whole. When I barely got into university, to pay my way through school, I worked every angle: managing fast food restaurants, working in art supply stores, running an art gallery, and managing an art production house. Eventually, I earned my BFA and MFA with a concentration in Painting.
You only meet incredible people by getting out there and actively engaging with your community. Johnny Depp once said never to name-drop, but nobody succeeds without people willing to take a chance on them—and if you’re reading this, you know who you are.
I’ve operated my studio, XXO Studio, for over a decade now. What started with helping a friend get his sister to a concert has grown into partnerships with consultants, architects, and designers globally. We’ve had work commissioned for heads of state and five-star hospitality projects around the world, with pieces hanging across parts of Asia and all throughout the U.S.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
If it is ever a smooth road it doesn’t stay smooth for long. When it does though I try not to think about alignments or tire balancing. The times I felt most exhausted were always during major transitions, stepping out into the deep end where your feet no longer touch the sand. Moving from something one knows to something out of rhythm… although one can make a back beat from that.
On a practical level, it was grueling. I remember running a third-shift restaurant crew, leaving at 3:00 AM to make a 9:00 AM art class, and then working a part-time gig from 3:00 PM to 7:00 PM just to get my foot in the door at an art supply shop. I wanted to stop smelling like a hot, sweaty, no deodorant kitchen, but more importantly, I wanted the material knowledge and employee discounts—essential perks for a young art student.
Concurrently, I worked for the USDA through the Forestry School at the University of Georgia doing wood research and lab tech work. I spent many days shredding woods with acids, running X-ray machines, and operating high-tension wood breakers. That job taught me the physics of substrates and instilled a rigorous scientific discipline in my artmaking.
Looking back, I don’t miss the exhaustion and exasperation of finding the right path, but I do miss the sheer energy of that era. Being everywhere at once felt thrilling. My sincere apologies to my professors, friends, and exes—I overslept a few times back then! But tenacity is the next-door neighbor’s father’s mother of invention.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
We specialize in paintings, murals, and textile arts, along with specialized woodwork and metalworking. We love printmaking, papermaking—really, any material or process we can get our hands on.
As a painter, it was a revelation to realize I’d essentially become a chemist: mastering the behavior of egg tempera, gouache, watercolor, oil, and acrylic, while understanding dyes and fixatives. I even spent two years on screen printing, a year printing for someone else and a year running my own shop. If I’m known for anything, it’s an obsession with physical media, a willingness to work across mediums, and an appetite for collaboration. That’s where the name XXO Studio comes from. I genuinely love bringing someone else’s abstract vision into physical reality. After all, Monet’s Water Lilies was a commission!
We keep a dynamic portfolio. We recently partnered with The Slugger Wine Co. on their brand identity, and we launched XXO Art Residency, where artists and martial artists can stay with us in rural Japan to experience the traditional countryside. (I’ve spent nearly four years living in Japan over the past twenty years).
In terms of local public art, we are particularly proud of our 40-foot-wide cross-stitch mural created for the Signia by Hilton Atlanta.

Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
Happiness is a deep question, and I don’t know if I spend much time chasing it directly. I focus more on avoiding what makes me miserable… procrastinating.
My mind and body stay in sync through regular practice—whether physical or mental. Working out, playing guitar daily, tracking the seasons, or getting beat up at the dojo. Discipline keeps you grounded. If you’ve ever raised kids, you know that without routine during the summer, chaos reigns. Adults aren’t very different.
That said, as an artist, you must be ready to break your own routines whenever a vision demands it. As my old art professor Art Rosenbaum used to say: “You’ve got to know the rules of war before you jam your torpedo into the bow of their ship.” And that was how I learned glazing over alla prima.
I had the privilege of learning from incredible mentors like Radcliffe Bailey, Diane Edison, Stephanie Jackson, Scott Belville, Kent Knowles, Tom Francis, Kathryn Refi, and many others. Being part of a lineage, a community of makers, and staying in motion—making, running, dancing, creating—that’s where real satisfaction lives.

Contact Info:

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