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ARTIST'S STATEMENT
My paintings combine abstract brush marks with trompe l'oeil illusionism. The juxtaposition of these opposite ways of working results in a dialectic approach to painting. The visual tension that exists in the work reflects the dualities and paradoxical nature of the world as I see it. The paintings can be seen as simultaneously abstract and hyperrealistic, active yet calm, or both contemplative and humorous.
Reconciling different technical approaches to painting allows each method to contribute to the overall mood and feeling of a painting. Through the use of illusion, the work conveys both a sense of mystery and humor, and reflects my longtime interests in Surrealism and the psychology of perception.
In recent years, I have been working on a series of "cutout" paintings in which the illusion of the object is intensified. This is achieved by allowing the trompe l'oeil painting of objects to extend beyond the perimeter of the painting's perceived boundary. Using large, single sheets of birch plywood as the support, the panels are carefully cut and shaped to create this added effect. Such construction allows the illusion of the objects to move beyond merely projecting toward the viewer, to extending outside the periphery of the paintings, including casting shadows on the wall. When properly lighted, the actual shadows falling on the wall match up with the painted shadows to enhance the illusion.
~Robert Tynes
BIOGRAPHY
Robert Tynes was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1953. He spent his formative years in Birmingham, Alabama with regular summer retreats to the mountains of North Carolina. In 1971 he attended Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee where he received a B.A. degree in 1975, graduating with Honors and Distinction in Art. He earned an M.F.A. degree in Painting from East Carolina University in 1981.
Tynes has held over twenty solo exhibitions of his work, including Fay Gold Gallery, The Contemporary Museum in Honolulu, Hawaii; the Roswell Museum & Art Center in New Mexico; and the Greenville Museum of Art in North Carolina. He has also participated in more than ninety-five group shows from Hawaii to New York City. Among the most significant of these were exhibitions at the Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio; the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, North Carolina; Allan Stone Gallery, New York; Lillian Heidenberg Gallery, New York, Hand in Hand Gallery, New York; Hodges Taylor Gallery, Charlotte; and the H & W Bechtler Gallery in Charlotte. The latter exhibition, entitled "Doubletake" included works by Larry Bell, Gregory Gillespie, Duane Hanson, Marilyn Levine, Paul Sarkesian, and Richard Shaw.
Tynes is also the recipient of several artist-in-residence grants including two from the Roswell Museum and Art Center, New Mexico in 1985 and 1991; and one in 1986, from the Ucross Foundation in Wyoming. In addition, he has completed several large-scale commissions for The Doubletree Hotel in Kansas City, IBM Corporations Field Engineering Headquarters in Atlanta, and the city of Charlotte's Convention Center.
Currently Professor of Art and Director of the S. Tucker Cooke Gallery at the University of North Carolina at Asheville, Tynes has also taught at the University of Hawaii, Humboldt State University in California, and East Carolina University. From 1993 to 1995, he served as the first Chairman of the Board for the Black Mountain College Museum & Arts Center, and has served as a member of the Boards of Directors for both the Asheville Area Arts Council and the Black Mountain Center for the Arts.
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