Tyler Spangler had an unusual start as an artist, beginning a career in psychology until he realised that his art could be more than a hobby. Vibrant, occasionally disturbing, but always full of energy, California-based Spangler’s designs showcase this background. “I try to weave psychological themes throughout my work whenever I can,” he explains. The result are designs that often veer towards the psychedelic and brain-bending, with bold colours and dynamic patterns.
Spangler’s work plays with pattern, colour and text. He enjoys mixing mediums like this, believing that text has a similar effect to music in changing the way viewers perceive his work. This interest in music led him to create a different kind of art project – an illegal punk venue in an Orange Country warehouse, where he ran continuous shows for three weeks before the venue was shut down by the police. “It was a lot of work” he reminisces of that project. “But it was exhilarating.”
That Spangler finds exhilaration in hard work and determination is evident across his prolific design and artistic practice. The broad appeal of his designs means that he has had the opportunity to work with a number of different clients and try his creative hand at many different projects. Despite the fun of collaboration, Spangler particularly relishes being given total freedom to carry out his designs, particularly when working on large outdoor design projects, saying, “I was able to do this with a recent Coach collaboration and had a pattern of mine wrapped around a restaurant on Sunset Boulevard.”
Spangler is inspired by everything from surf and punk culture to Dada and surrealism. Ultimately however, his work is contemporary and individual, drawing from his personal life. “In the end, I basically pull from my own experience living in this generation and how I navigate it,” he says. “It is a crazy, fast, and complicated time.”
