A city’s mind can often be read from its walls. More specifically, from its graffiti. Since 2010, Tyler has wielded his brush to emerge as India’s foremost street artist, when he began painting his now-famous brand of paintings and slogans to comment on the world around him.
Tyler’s untitled first solo exhibition is on display at Method Art Space’s two locations Bandra and Kala Ghoda.
Over the past 10 years, Tyler used the city walls as his canvas to reflect on a number of political, social, gender and caste-based issues.
He has a signature stencil art style that suits the walls of the metropolis. His works have been on display in group shows in India and Amsterdam. He has been featured in international publications including The New York Times and Al Jazeera.
In an Instagram post just before the exhibition he wrote that 2018 he shut down his business to pursue street art full time. “Over the years, countless times, I have broken multiple laws, just to put my thoughts on a wall,” he wrote.
“I am inspired by logic and common sense,” he said in an interview in 2019. “An artist can lead. Follow, uplift or provoke with their work. The artist provides society with emotions, colour and texture.”
He prefers to remain anonymous and uses the name Tyler that was borrowed from Tyler Durden, the soap salesman played by Brad Pitt in the 1999 film Fight Club, a film that examines the angst of generation X.
Tyler has never been to an art school or has received training under anyone. Besides stencil he uses spray paint to create his artwork.
The Mumbai man has been compared by some to Banksy, an anonymous street artist in England who paints on the walls of other people without their permission, who has managed to remain faceless since the 1990s. His film Exit Through the Gift Shop was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2010.
The show of Tyler’s works will go on till March 7.