Guthrie by Tyler Vouros
Charcoal and Water Mounted on Paper
42 x 68 in.
2020

Taking Flight with Tyler Vouros

Tyler Vouros makes magic with charcoal, bringing his subjects to life with stunning clarity His newest works feature birds of prey, winged souls that look as deep within the viewer as the viewer does to them. Tyler’s muses are all rescued birds that live at On the Wing, a rescue and rehabilitation center for birds in New Hampshire.

Tyler’s work with charcoal results in a hyperrealistic style with mind-blowing detail. The artist describes his process: “Charcoal is used to tone the surface of heavy weight paper and a series of erasers and charcoal layers begin to push and pull the surface to distinct values and levels of abstraction and representation. Water is used both directly on the surface charcoal and by way of crushed powder made into specific ink values. A variation of washes is used to stain the paper with specific values in order to keep the hierarchy
of light and dark in a specific order. To a lesser effect, the use of water results in an understated change of color temperature which is used to push subtle warm – cool shifts in color relationships, namely between foreground and background.  The brightest values are not chalk or paint, but the original paper surface arrived at through a lesser toned ground and the use of electric erasers and sandpaper.

The paper is later mounted to canvas with gel medium, a large water bath and pressed with soft paint rollers, to provide an archival quality and to equalize the warping due to use of water earlier in the process.  This extensive practice takes many days, and long hours, and only after the work is largely complete and must be done with great care and patience to not create any risk to the drawing.”

An exhibition of Tyler’s works, Winged Souls, is on view at RJD Gallery through November 30.