Tyler Starr

Tyler Starr received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Minnesota. In 1998, Starr was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study at the Academy of Fine Arts, Krakow, Poland. In March 2011, he graduated with a PhD in Studio Arts from the Tokyo University of Fine Arts, where he was a recipient of the Japanese Ministry of Education Scholarship. His work has been featured in numerous exhibits including the International Biennial of Contemporary Prints-Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Liège, Belgium, the 2nd Bangkok Triennial International Print and Drawing Exhibition, and the Tokyo Wonderwall 2009 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo Japan. Tyler was the recipient of a 2011 Grant Wood Fellowship at the University of Iowa where he developed a new body of artwork using skills and concepts learned in Japan, applied to American subject matter. He is currently an Assistant Professor at Davidson College in North Carolina. 

“Love and destruction tend to go hand in hand. Geographical sites stamped with the nameLover’s Leap are located all over this country. Mark Twain noted that the bluffs along the Mississippi in particular have been stamped with these legends of distraught maidens throwing themselves from the precipices. These stories projected onto the landscape describe theatrical situations with sublime natural backdrops.  The dramas have soaring locations and motivations with questionable desperate solutions to dilemmas that leave ambiguous results. My artwork is based on direct experiences, research in archives, and poetic associations. The imagery I create reflects the messy process of digesting disparate information and reanimating the fragments to commemorate human endeavors.” 
— Tyler Starr