Artist Statement:
I picture our early consciousness bearing ancestors crouching in the dark crevasses of the earth, painting on the stone walls. Rendering the likenesses of prehistoric bears and elk, drawing the outline of their hands in the fire light. They were recording the wonders they witnessed in their lives, trying to make sense of the world around them. To them, the world was an expansive, frightening and incomprehensible place they had no control over. Their early form of home decor was a compulsion based in storytelling and would develop into proto-religions and myth making that would have certainly brought comfort and meaning into their lives.
Fast forward 70,000 years. After eons of progress, we have come full circle. In our hubris we have brought upon ourselves the devastation of climate change. Our unethical, greed based economic and political systems have failed us and we are once again facing a world we do not understand or know how to cope with. And like our ancient ancestors, we too seek comfort in an inhospitable world. We now must remind ourselves to breathe. To live, laugh and love. “It’s all good”, we say to ourselves while decorating our mantles with bric-à-brac we bought on Amazon. All while our planet, the only home we will likely ever know is crashing down all around us.
Artist Bio:
Tyler Witzel was born in British Columbia in 1985. Raised in a rural, off-the-grid homestead within the interior of the province, these formative years in nature would lead to the development of themes that are present in his work today. Tyler attended the School for Arts and Technology in 2005 in Kelowna, with a focus on film and experimental animation. He has recently returned to Vancouver Island from some years living and working in Berlin, Germany. Currently based out of Victoria, Tyler is creating work primarily in the mediums of drawing, painting, sculpture and experimental animation.