Tyler Vlahovich

Tyler Vlahovich hangs two paintings in the window on Martel Ave. at Richard Telles, curated by Max Maslansky.

I.

Vlahovich's abstractions are cartoonish with few moving pieces and colors. The paint is pushed around without subtlety. The abstractions sit on a great slab of white and are enclosed by diagonal shapes that eat at the corners. He's thinking about building as he goes, enjoying uncertainty. It’s urgent and clumsy.

II.

For Vlahovich, there is something so accessible, and sometimes unforgivable, about the human form and figuration: it transmits emotion effortlessly. As hard as he has tried to force his enthusiasm for life into open-ended forms, he's always thought it was less perceivable by the viewer than he wished. The streaker balances that ledger. It's his response to making abstract work for many years. For him, as gratifying as abstraction is, it’s still largely an idiom for the indoctrinated. The streaker is him, you, or me. We are exuberant and alive. We are vulnerable and fantastic. It is the fool we long to be.

Tyler Vlahovich has held solo exhibitions at Feature Inc, New York in 2012, WPA, Los Angeles in 2011, John Tevis, Paris and Twig Gallery, Brussels, both in 2010. He lives and works in Los Angeles.