we need to sit on the rim
of the well of darkness
and fish for fallen light
with patience. — pablo neruda

the aesthetic of tyler d graffam‘s work is not innovative, or anything new… but what it does have is even more important to me - its rawness. the work emerges from a dark and introspective place that subtly reveals itself in a highly emotive sense. an emergence of the artist’s vulnerability portrayed through the vague identity of the image; something i adore in contemporary portraiture. as far as ‘selfies’ go the layered impressions of the artist is expressed both sentimentally and self-consciously. it allows for an intimacy which i always appreciate and this dark closeness is what gives the work an atmosphere of simultaneous dynamic immediacy and static beauty…