In The Spirit of Tyree Tuesday: A Q&A with Tyree

Nick Mayner: Mr. Guyton, thank you for art and the inspiration you have given to many. Have you ever felt that if your artistic abilities are not excellent, that people wouldn't accept your work as art and do you have any advice for anyone feeling that way? Thank You.

     Hi Nick. Early in my career I had feelings like you describe. However, it’s important that you believe that your work is great to you and that you believe in what you’re doing. You can‘t trust the world because the world will tell you that you are great today and tomorrow you are not great. Trust you, only then is it good for the world.

Lisa Hathaway: What originally inspired you to start HP?

     Hello Lisa. It was a vision from God. I was chosen to do this.

Mark Sweetman: Do you ever have performance art at the HP?

     Hey Mark, yes we do have performances all the time. Would you like to come and perform for the public?

Home

I came home on the 25th  of September and I'm so glad to be back in the city. It's hard to believe that I was gone for a year. I truly missed this city and the energy of all wonderful people here in the big - D. During my time abroad, I thought a lot about the city and the challenge to push myself to the outer limits of my imagination here in Basel. My work here at home has prepared me for the world and Switzerland helped me to see the greatness of Yahweh in nature.

I left on the18th of September for my opening in Bern Switzerland. The title of this exhibition is, Two Countries, Two Cities, One Spirit. Everything is connected to spirit Law from my estimation. Switzerland is a different country and the culture is what is so dissimilar but art is universal and so is God, if you believe.

As I leave, take care all you wild ass folks here in the - D. Stay in trouble please and let's transform our City into a work of art that shows what we are made of here.

Leaving

All week I've been running around like a chicken with no head because I'm getting ready to go home. Time went by so fast and it's hard to believe that my residency is coming to an end. I came here afraid - nervous and not sure about any of it at first, but time settled me into place. I see the importance of me coming here now. I was reborn. This was a mental medicine and very therapeutic in terns of me being exposed to European artists and philosophers of the past.


Two weeks ago, Jenenne and I went to visit our friends in Stuttgart, Germany. Klaus and Cathrin live in the
mountains of Stuttgart where there are lots wine vineyards and it was like being on top of the world looking down at the city of Stuttgart. What a view! They fixed a birthday dinner for myself and Jenenne, who was also celebrating her birthday. We stayed the night there. I personally love the artwork that was in our bedroom, painted on the walls.


We turned in early because we had a big day planned for tomorrow plus a special surprise in store for us.
I rose early. I'm more or less an early bird. I like the morning sky. We had breakfast and then we were on our way headed for the autobahn. Klaus drove and I rode shotgun. On the way, to my "BIG" surprise, we made one stop, to check out a folk art museum. The work at the museum was great and it reminded me of grandpa Mackey's artwork. My "BIG" surprise was having Klaus and Cathrin and a friend of theirs take Jenenne and myself to Heidelberg, Germany!

Heidelberg is a college town and students come from all over the world to attend school there. We had lunch
on one of the Heidelberg boats and after lunch we strolled up and down the city streets. The grand finale was taking the cable car to the top of the mountain. And there it was, the Heidelberg castle. Big, powerful, a fortress of the past. It was a city in itself.


The castle was built in 1271 and still stands today as a tourist attraction. It was damaged twice by lightening storms and partly destroyed during the France war. This was a wonderful birthday present, to go back in time and see this magnificent artwork on top of a hill over-looking the city. The Heidelberg castle lives on, on top of that mountain and the Heidelberg Project lives on and on, on Heidelberg street.

Winding Down....

Every morning I wake up to create and if I die tomorrow, let me die creating what I love. That's art. 

The train ride from Basel to Bern is very therapeutic for me. I'm Like Socrates-I know nothing
and all is at hand. The language is different here but the words are the same, like back in Detroit. My time here is coming to an end and already I'm starting to miss this place. I love it here! I just heard the church bells and it's 7:00pm here with a beautiful sky. It feels like I've been gone for years. I've become accustomed to the life-style here: people riding their bikes and little old ladies all dressed up just to go to the store on the trams. My house keeper, Denise who cleans the house Mondays and Fridays, I will truly miss her along with her German lessons.

The public transportation system I've got down to a science. I will miss the fact that everything is on time for the most part. It's the way of life here, being on time. The neighbor next door is our physician, so if Danh or I get sick, we just go next door. I also ended my membership at the gym this week and started packing up. Getting ready to come home to the goddamn - D!!!! I've been here a year and the time has just gone by so fast it's hard to believe it. I stayed busy most of the time and met a lot of wonderful people. I went to parties and.... sometimes drank too much. I love the Jazz at Bird's Eye Jazz club.

I will never forget this momentous experience that open my eyes to see the glory of God here. The beauteous black birds outside my window in the morning. Danh and those wild bodacious parties he throws here at the house...I have had so much fun here.

As I conclude, my life will never be the same all because I know now I can do anything If I put
my mind to it, like coming to Basel, Switzerland for a year.

The Open House aftermath.....

The open house opening was a big hit and people came to check it out. This work is about 25 years of experience and that now I understand that this is my purpose in life, to create art. I feel renewed and excited about the possibilities that await me now and there is no turning back at this point in my life. One writer said my art was religious art and people here had a lot of questions about the messages and my shoe concept. My answer to the people was, "I'm making it up." I create what I feel and see with my third eye of wisdom from God.
                                                                     Open House Images

So what is art today for me: it's the open house project here now and whatever tomorrow brings my way. I'm having so much fun and if the world came to end tomorrow, I'd have zero regrets. Life has been good to me. My grandfather was and is a part of the open house research project here in Basel Switzerland. It was truly an honor to have grandpa be part of this special occasion, the two of us again. I made a promise to my grandfather that I would share his art with the world; this is only the beginning!

I would like to thank Jenenne, my lovely wife, and Dan Hoops for coming out for the opening. We had a great time!

                                     Dan Hoops, Jenenne Whitfield, Tyree Guyton, John Sutton

                                                     Jenenne Whitfield and Debbie Sutton


I love the fact of being here but can't wait to return home so I can polka dot the whole city now. I've been practicing for that moment. So get ready city!

Open House

Time is just ticking away like never before and the open house is this week. I'm so excited and proud of myself. This journey has changed my life from the inside out and has freed me to go beyond my own expectations.

Twenty five years has prepared me for this moment, knowing now that my paint
brush is my magic wand and I can create magic with it. This momentous body of works here in Basel is based on philosophy and my own experiences of creating the Heidelberg Project, an outdoor museum in a neighborhood.

Photos of the Heidelberg Project will be part of the open house here too. Art, life and the unknown, but known through faith, has been another piece to this puzzle. Now after this experience of being challenged beyond my imagination by coming here to Basel, the world is my canvas and there is nothing to fear but fear
itself.

Then there is the print show in October, which will consist of a new body of prints that I'm currently working on during my time here in Europe as well. This work is also about research based on how everything is connected to everything. This project here in Basel switzerland took the girl out of me and now I can polka dot the sky if I choose to do so.

If I die tomorrow, I have no regrets at this time. I was on the train going to Bern to meet with Tom Blaess and saw the Swiss Alps from my window seat. What a site! Just incredible! And all I could think of was the puissant awesome power of Yahweh and the artistry of those incredible mountains he or she made.

When I started the project twenty five years ago, and I'm 26 myself, I saw the magic in chaos and the blight and broken that was present at that time in my city. What is art today? Well, it's the "could" formation I see here in the sky and the chaos that existed in the city of Detroit where I live. I came here and heard the voice of my creator who are the artists of this universe and who created me in his or her likeness. I'm ready to show my Swiss audiences what I believe art to be for myself today coming from the "D" where we break rules every day for the sake of art and new possibilities in art. Yes, God is a woman with red hair and 2+2= 8 and art is what you believe it to be and there is no limit when it comes to the imagination and understanding the spirit of creativity that's in all of us. Yes, I'm having an open house here and you are invited, but don't be mad at me if you see where I broke the rules here too. 

God made me do it.   

Open House

Things are coming along! I'm getting ready for my open house on 16 August 2012. I've been very busy here working on my own artistry and reading philosophy books, spending a lot of time in the studio too, constantly asking myself what is art today. This is a very complex question in the vernacular of what's being said and how it's being produced in the art world today. What I know now for myself at this point is that there are no boundaries or limits to the game of art, not today and probably never again. I'm extremely excited and having fun at the same time as I explore what's possible in the world of my own art today: 

2+2 = 8 and God, yes God, is a woman. 

The work I'm doing during my time here is based on Heidelbergology and that of other philosophers in Europe at the moment. I came here not sure about anything but today I feel the power to create and nothing is safe in my presence. I accidentally polka dotted my studio floor and just found out that the floor is off limits...oops! Art is everything seen and unseen and it's OK to break the so called rules of the past because tomorrow is a new cave to explore. 

My housemate can cook his little ass off. Is this art too?  Everyday God paint's his or her sky in a meticulous way that is breathtaking here in Basel. It's a world that is abstract and surreal in action and deeds. How do you explain God's art? I can't stop creating here. I'm up early because my spirit  is touched to create. Plato said spirit is why we do what we and Dr, Kinley (philosopher) went on to explain it in a way where I see how nothing escapes the pattern of the universe.Yes, this new work is new in one sense but then there is nothing new under the sun. New becomes old and old becomes new again. That's the artistry of God-old to new and new to old. Everything is art and what I do is use the art that's already here to create more art. That's the way to eternal life; through art.