w. tucker | standing / facing

w. tucker

w. tucker

TAYLOE PIGGOTT GALLERY

standing / facing

As of late, W. Tucker has found the question “How do we not kick and scream through life?” replaying in his head.

In his newest body of drawings, paintings and sculptures, Tucker offers a solution: standing / facing. This aphorism, and the title of Tucker’s upcoming exhibition at Tayloe Piggott Gallery, is an abridged ode to the maxim “standing / accepting / giving time / letting it float.” This step-by-step apothegm is Tucker’s method of not only dealing with a situation or feelings, but also a freeing way of being in the world. “Standing” is the act of acknowledging and facing the trouble, followed by accepting the existence of the problem (though not necessarily condoning it), giving it some time, and, finally, letting it be.

When discussing the title, Tucker wrote, “It’s also quite literal to me - as I feel it’s the only thing we can really do in life- stand and face what’s in front of us. In a simple (and maybe cliché) way they are two words that speak about being in the moment. It’s the only moment we can truly do anything in.”

In working through personal loss, Tucker found comfort in a selfhelp book from the 1960s. Although some of the language and perspectives of the book felt outdated, and admittedly even a little awkward to read at times, “…the ideas were really solid on how to simply take a pause, and look at what’s going on with you… not shying away from what’s happening with you. Part of it was this idea that you pause and face what’s happening whether you understand it or not and then you give it time and actually accept that it’s really there.” For Tucker, the process of creating this work is a way to pause. “Sitting down to do the work, it’s really a meditation for me, and it’s a pause to look at what’s happening in my life, look at what’s happening in the world around me, and all of that kind of gets filtered into the work.”

In W. Tucker’s eyes, the root of struggling lies in our desire for things to be different than they are, and that desire is what traps us in hardship. In this body of work, the themes of hardship and of taking a pause are undeniably present, whether literally or figuratively. Some figures don boxing gloves, and a two-torso-ed man asks the question “Which self?” while elephants, birds and people peacefully sit, as if in the act of “standing / accepting / giving time / letting it float.”

As an artist, Tucker has always been an opportunist, scribbling his own unique timestamp on a wide array of found objects from the past. A scrappy cast of characters tumbles to life from his nondominant hand, scrawled across vintage book covers, children’s blocks, and old records from his favorite thrift shops, abandoned cabinet doors, and homemade cement objects. His work is contemplative, his process completely unplanned. Without fixed intention or control, his markings take on a deeper meaning— each wavering line warrants our attention. Here, a stick-figure wears a hat; there, a joyful elephant.

“There are figures that repeat, but I’m never wanting to do them the same. I have some pieces where the circles for heads are definitely better than I would like them to be,” he says, chuckling. “So, there is a part of me that will back off and either make a different mark, or add to it. Sometimes, I will consciously take a paint brush and hold it differently in my hand so I don’t have that structure or control over it.”

Tucker’s stark, simplified drawings interact with their found-object environments and elevate the space with earnest potency. The artist welcomes serendipitous ‘gifts’ in the patina of the found materials he makes his own. “Sometimes it feels like a little bit like

Right: Tucker working on an installation at Texas State University

stealing, sometimes it feels more like I’m borrowing and adding to it.” From vintage book covers to six-foot-high plywood panels, Tucker’s found ‘canvases,’ imbued with inherent character and an indiscernible history, are integral to his process and always in dialogue with Tucker’s drawings and paintings. He has commented, “At times, I think the given patina or markings become quite relevant in terms of what the piece is saying - they are always relevant in the dynamic and balance of the piece.” Upon these surfaces, Tucker layers assorted media including charcoal, watercolor, graphite, resin stick, ink, and oil, creating a rich palimpsest of imagery.

Elemental, perhaps, but decidedly not elementary, people, animals, and ships emerge from irregular lines drawn in constant, repetitive forms. Tucker works exclusively with his non-dominant hand, which lends his work an element of visceral, child-like honesty. There is a familiarity about the work that is both nostalgic and refreshing. Still, according to Tucker, “The fact that I do use my left hand is relevant to me, and it’s relevant to how the work comes out, and someone might find it interesting, but I hope it’s not the most interesting thing about the work.” The use of his non-dominant left hand engages the right side of the brain, which, according to neurology, is more visual, intuitive and creative. Still, Tucker’s more logical left brain does participate “The only time [my left brain] really comes into play is when I feel like a piece is almost done and there might be an imbalance to the piece, so I will make a mark- often it’s just a line or scribble- and it needs to be there for me in terms how I visually see the piece but it’s also there because it creates a balance to the piece.” Sometimes imbalance is desired and almost narrative, like a ship moving towards the edge of an old book cover, but other times, when the elements of the found material pull one way, Tucker utilizes a simple gesture that brings the piece back to center. This balancing of visual

weights is an intuitive practice, integral to Tucker’s process of turning the discarded and forgotten into art. A scribble, a line, or color is quickly, instinctively and confidently added and suddenly, “all is right with the world, in terms of the piece.”

Over time, Tucker’s work has become sparser, the heavy layering of materials giving way to a lightness of touch that was perhaps clouded in his earlier work. His characters, given more space compositionally, take on an undeniable gravitas. Indeed, the idea of space is something that drives him as an artist. He would like his audience to use the space in his work for a break and a contemplation in their everyday lives, as “the space to stop, the space to breathe, the space to watch the thought pass without grabbing a hold of it. This space, to me, also gives power to the images/items/people/ships that live in the pieces.”

This space also allows for people to find more depth in the whimsical string of characters that live in Tucker’s world. Though most of the characters embody a certain peacefulness or joy, others have an air of melancholy. Tucker hopes that viewers “can connect to some of the depth in the work, and can also find the humor in it.” Between the range of auras of his subjects and his instinctual mark-making, above all, Tucker’s work is distinguished by its truthfulness. Tucker used to find himself making moves he knew “worked” for his art, which he calls “tricks” but has since abandoned these “tricks” in order to create more visceral, honest work. When asked why his work seems to speak to anyone who is open to it, Tucker replied, “Maybe there is some aspect of the work where the viewer sees or senses something that’s honest in it, and they may connect to that. The gesture or some figure there feels real to them.”

W. Tucker was born in 1959 in Goldsboro, North Carolina. After graduating from NYU with a BA in drama in 1982, he struggled to find consistent work as an actor in Los Angeles. He began drawing and painting in 1986 as almost an act of fate. While living with friends in the fabled art-centric Laurel Canyon neighborhood of Los Angeles, he discovered a drafting table, large pads of drawing paper, and sets of oil and chalk pastels left in the house by a previous tenant. Now describing the abandoned materials as fortuitous, he says, “Even now when I think about it, it was pretty bizarre.” Drawing and painting became a happy respite from the “frantic dismay” of auditioning. About three years into the practice, a solo exhibition dropped into his lap. Tucker was asked to show this work at the Beverly Hills Parachute store, a Soho-based New Wave boutique at the pinnacle of mid-eighties cool, Tucker’s first exhibition sold 17 of the 20 framed works.

Tucker’s work has been represented in the US by galleries in California, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming. He recently began working with Galleri Hedenius in Stockholm, Sweden and has had his work shown in various galleries in Switzerland. He continues to work with Koelsch Gallery in Houston, TX, Conduit Gallery in Dallas, TX and Tayloe Piggott Gallery in Jackson Hole, WY. Tucker’s work has been published in volume number 67, 102, 144 (online) of New American Painting’s, a juried show in print. Residencies have included a stay in 1991 at Dorland Mountain Arts Colony in Temecula, California and at the Fountainhead Residency in Miami in 2008. For the 2012-13 season Tucker was awarded Austin Critics Table Award for “Best Installation” as well as “Artist of the year” for his installation at Texas State University. He attended Circle in the Square through New York University and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Drama in1982. Tucker lives and works in Austin, Texas with his lovely wife Sylvia.

Right: Tucker in the early 1990s in Los Angeles

Above: Tucker’s materials

FALLING AGAIN & AGAIN & AGAIN , 2022

Texture paste, resin stick and China marker on cardboard

10 1/4 x 6 1/4 inches

BOXING BUNNY WITH CLOUDS & SUN , 2019

Ink, charcoal resin stick on cardboard

22 x 13 1/2 inches

SHE TOOK A BREAK TO WATCH THE RABBIT , 2021

Charcoal, graphite, resin stick on cardboad

7 1/2 x 9 3/4 inches

PAUSE , 2021

Charcoal, resin stick on cardboard (flattened Tiffany & Co. box)

5 1/4 x 6 inches

MAN TRYING TO STAND UP , 2022

Ink and charcoal on cardboard

5 3/4 x 2 inches

UNDER A YELLOW SKY , 2021

Ink and resin stick on cardboard

2 3/4 x 1 1/2 inches

BIRD SPOKE TO THE HOUSE , 2022

Ink and resin stick on a cardboard box

5 1/4 × 8 1/2 x 3 1/4 inches

book covers

THE DAY IN THE COUNTRY , 2022

Charcoal and resin stick on a book cover 10 3/4 x 7 3/4 inches

THE BLUE CAT , 2022

Resin stick and ink on a book cover

4 1/4 x 6 1/2 inches

THE FIRST BOOK OF HORSES , 2022

Charcoal and resin stick on a book cover 8 3/4 x 14 1/2 inches

NO WAY AROUND, ONLY THROUGH , 2022 Ink, resin stick, and graphite on book cover

7 x 8 inches

AERO , 2022

Ink and resin stick on book cover

11 1/4 x 8 1/4 inches

THE ATTEMPT TO REPAIR WHAT CAN’T BE REPAIRED (THIS MAY BE WHERE THE SHIP MAY STOP) , 2022 Charcoal and resin stick on book cover 9 3/4 x 11 1/4 inches

SEX WITHOUT FEAR (#2) , 2022

Ink and resin stick on book cover 6 1/4 x 8 1/2 inches

THE THING THAT RELEASES (IS INSIDE) , 2022 Resin stick on book cover 10

STANDING / ACCEPTING , 2022

Ink and charcoal on book cover

8 3/4 x 6 3/4 inches

FACE TO FACE , 2022

Ink and resin stick on book cover

5 1/2 x 8 3/4 inches

POP (SAVE MY FATHER) , 2022

Ink, charcoal and resin stick on book cover 9 1/4 x 12 1/4 inches

SHIP TO THE NEXT LIFE (A GENTLE RIDE) , 2022 Ink, charcoal, resin stick and paper on book cover 11 1/4 x 7 1/4 inches

WHICH ONE WILL WIN , 2021 Resin stick on book cover

5 3/4 x 8 1/2 inches

TIGER (? IN FOREST ?) , 2022

Resin stick on book cover 4 1/2 x 6 1/2 inches

HER , 2022 Ink on paper

3 x 3 inches

BEAR BOXING ANOTHER , 2022

Ink, resin stick on paper

5 1/2 x 8 inches

TWO HEADS BETTER , 2022

Ink on paper

5 1/4 x 8 inches

YES, AND ORANGE ELEPHANT , 2022

Ink and resin stick on paper

5 x 7 1/4 inches

THIS ENVELOPE CONTAINS , 2022 Ink and resin stick on paper

4 1/2 x 10 1/4 inches

KITTEN , 2021

Ink, graphite and metal on paper

4 1/4 × 2 3/4 inches

THREE, INTO THE STORM , 2022

Charcoal and resin stick on paper

4 1/2 x 6 1/4 inches

TO PROTECT ME , 2019

Ink on gauze package

3 x 3 inches

MAN WITH EARS AND 1 AND 3/4 MOONS , 2019 Ink on gauze package 3 x 3 inches

BOAT BOAT , 2018

Charcoal and resin stick on cardboard

3 x 3 1/2 inches

THE GIVING BIRD , 2021

Resin stick and charcoal on a match book

1 3/4 x 1 1/2 inches

BLUE CLOUD , 2018

Ink, watercolor, resin stick, charcoal, graphite and acrylic paint on wood

20 3/4 x 20 3/4 inches

MOVED BY THE MOON , 2018

Resin stick, oil and acrylic paint on wood 11 1/4 x 24 1/4 inches

ROCK CANDY , 2018

Charcoal, resin stick, graphite and acrylic paint on wood

17 1/4 x 11 inches

ALL TRICKS ASIDE , 2003 Oil, graphite, lumber stick, nails and canvas on wood 22 1/2 x 42 inches

BLACK CAR ON RED, 2021

Ink and watercolor on a wooden box

1 3/4 x 5 3/4 inches

DREAMING , 2013

Charcoal and texture paste on wood

7 x 5 3/4 x 3 1/4 inches

micellaneous found objects

LOOKING

AT NOTHING , 2021

Resin stick on domino

2 x 1 inches

FOUR BIRD HEADS - ONE BODY , 2021

Resin stick on game piece

1 x 1 1/4 inches

HELD , 2018

Charcoal on sandpaper

4 3/4 x 4 3/4 inches

YELLOW MOON , 2021

Charcoal on sandpaper

4 3/4 x 4 3/4 inches

TO BE WITH IT ALL , 2022

Ink and graphite on metal plate

9 x 9 inches

American artist, born in 1959 in Goldsboro, North Carolina

Lives and works in Austin, Texas

EDUCATION

1982 BA, Drama, New York University, New York, NY

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2023 “standing / facing”, Tayloe Piggott Gallery, Jackson, WY

2022 “we’re all just walking each other home”, Galleri Hedenius, Stockholm, Sweden

“be still”, Koelsch Gallery, Houston, TX

“a cloud floats in, a ship passes by”, Big Medium, Austin, TX

2021 “in the middle of all this nonsense”, Conduit Gallery, Dallas, TX

2020 “wish you were here / and you are”, Koelsch Gallery, Houston, TX

“heads in the mountains”, Tayloe Piggott Gallery, Jackson, WY

2018 “I am this big / I am this small”, Conduit Gallery, Dallas, TX

2017 “all that matters is the getting back up”, Koelsch Haus, Houston, TX

2016 “the captain asked for a show of hands”, Grey Duck Gallery, Austin, TX

“a quiet moment”, Koelsch Haus (formally Koelsch Gallery), Houston, TX

2015 “box, boxing, boxed”, Conduit Gallery, Dallas, TX

2014 “the day before, and the day before that”, Koelsch Gallery, Houston, TX

2013 “the sound of a house”, Koelsch Gallery, Houston, TX

“if I knew I’d tell you”, Conduit Gallery, Dallas, TX

“remix”, Blackbox, Austin, TX

2012 “to stand in a boat that floats”, School of Art & Design, Texas State University San Marcos, TX

2010 “how to draw”, Conduit Gallery, Dallas, TX

“books on a table, lines on a wall”, Koelsch Gallery, Houston, TX

2008 “fragile”, Conduit Gallery, Dallas, TX

Koelsch Gallery, Houston, TX

2007 “Lost & Found”, Conduit Gallery, Dallas, TX

“with tiny arms he flew”, The Fallout Gallery, Las Vegas, NV

2003 “Recent Work”, RiskPress Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2001 Contentfree Gallery, Seattle, WA

RESIDENCIES

2008 Fountainhead Residency, Miami, FL

1991 Dorland Mountain Arts Colony, Artist’s Residency, Temecula, CA

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