Emerging Artists | Tyler Crow - Southwest Art Magazine

Pure western heart

Tyler Crow, Sunday Siesta, oil, 18 x 26.

This story was featured in the May 2017 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art May 2017 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.

If there’s any uncertainty about the future of traditional western art, let it be quashed by the emergence of artists like Tyler Crow. A few years shy of 30, Crow is one of the younger western painters working today, but his representational portrayals of cowboys and ranch life are swiftly gaining recognition. Last year he was inducted into the esteemed Cowboy Artists of America, becoming the group’s youngest member, and in March he was the guest artist at InSight Gallery’s prestigious Texas Masters show.

“I can’t wrap my mind around any of it,” says Crow of his accomplishments. “It all takes me by surprise.” The artist’s words are polished with a humble, gracious etiquette rooted in his American cowboy upbringing. Crow grew up in the small agricultural town of Apache, OK, where he helped his grandfather run cattle and routinely drew the horses on his family’s ranch. His predilection for illustrating western life in pencil continued into high school, and as a senior he won a scholarship to attend a painting workshop taught by cowboy artists Bruce Greene and Martin Grelle. More painting workshops ensued, and Crow spent a few summers apprenticing with Greene at his studio in Clifton, TX. Paintbrush soon replaced pencil as his primary tool, but Crow’s commitment to drawing—now mainly with charcoal and conté crayons—has remained essential to his creative process. So, too, has his subject matter of choice. “My mom and dad raised my brother and me to have respect for the cowboy way of life,” he says. “I just love it, the history and all the values that come with it.”

: Tyler Crow, Cowboy Fly-Fishing, oil, 24 x 18.

: Tyler Crow, A Lifetime in the Saddle, oil, 28 x 24.

: Tyler Crow, A Slow-Moving Calf and a Fast-Moving Storm, oil, 20 x 18.

: Tyler Crow, Conté Drawing, conté crayon, 22 x 15.

: Tyler Crow, Coolin’ His Heels, oil, 20 x 30.

: Tyler Crow, Cowboy Fandango, oil, 24 x 20.

Today Crow lives with his wife in the small town of Hico, TX, located southwest of Fort Worth. He frequently visits ranches to photograph and sketch the landscape, livestock, horses, and ranchmen. Cowboys in action and at rest are equally worthy of the spotlight on his canvases, whether they’re roping, riding, cutting cattle, fixing gear, or quietly contemplating their workday. It’s their passion and good character that inspire him to paint them, says Crow, “when I know they’re doing what they’re doing because they love it, and because it means the world to them the way it does to me.” —Kim Agricola

representation
www.tylercrow.com