Tyrrell Winston is a contemporary artist known for his found-object artworks, which feature deflated basketballs, broken nets, and cigarette butt compositions. Living in New York, Winston walks around different neighborhoods and collects such “trash” to turn into sculptures, which are displayed in multiple galleries around the world.
Winston’s art is beautiful and thought-provoking–upon first viewing his work on social media, I was immediately captured by his deflated basketball sculptures, as their colorful vibrance has a unique beauty to it, and literally turns one man’s trash into another man’s treasure. I also enjoy viewing his cigarette “paintings” as well–their uniformity has pleasing aesthetic qualities and questions America’s obsession with smoking despite knowledge of its harmful dangers. Both basketballs and cigarettes have become unofficial symbols of “coolness” and Winston’s popularity certainly has capitalized on this. It’s intriguing and somewhat endearing how his works of art evoke questions about ephemerality and identity with showing simple objects.
On the other hand, I personally believe Winston walks a fine line between art and appropriation. Marcel Duchamp is considered the pioneer of “Readymade” art in which found objects are considered art by placing them into a different context. Duchamp’s work during the 20th century was astounding at the time, and some of his most famous works are Fountain, a literal urinal, and everyday objects such as a bicycle wheel or a shovel. Tyrrell Winston’s work utilizes these artistic ideas of recontextualization and makes them his own, yet there is a point when work becomes redundant. Some of his critics accuse him of being pretentious, unoriginal, and boring. I’m not sure whether his work is truly “different” enough to be so renowned and celebrated.
In any case, Winston is a distinctive artist. Take a look at some of the art below and let me know your thoughts on Winston’s work!
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6 Comments on "The Art of Tyrrell Winston: Art or Appropriation?"
Evidence suggests the famous urinal Fountain, attributed to Marcel Duchamp, was actually created by Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven. Go look her up.
I’d listen to a Black voice! I don’t think the art world gets to be the decider of white people’s humanity, however. No one artist/ person other than me gets to represent my humanity. Though the art market is a racket, as far as devastating white people go, there are far many worse institutions helmed by whiteness bereft of humanity. Then again that’s something the art world could do a lot more to combat.
This guy is proof that white people have no real criticality and humanity. It’s so clear this person uses Black culture, ephemera, and literally relies on Black death to create his “work.” Just take a look at his crack vile pieces from 2016. His interviews from that period and earlier. He’s had to switch his tune because of criticisms from the Black community, a community he’s actively silenced. This is all violent white gaze and Blackface.
While I appreciate your point of view, I do not appreciate you lumping “white people” into the same category. Do rednecks exist? Yes, I’m from the South, they certainly do. They have enough idiocrasy for all of us, but they can’t sit with me. I am a white gen X woman. I am also a teacher of respectful conversation through the observation of beautiful things. I understand the burden of my skin. Since I can’t change it, I’ve spent the last 3 decades, trying to change how people understand, appreciate, and have conversations about controversial topics, including the important impact of Black Culture on the arts in America. From where I live, I can tell you basketball, drugs, smoking, and poverty are not exclusive to the black community. As you know, artists are inspired by what they see, what they know. He is picking up discarded objects from around his neighborhood in NY. If anything, he is making a political statement about the continued decline of neighborhoods and communities critically ignored by the 1%. Hopefully, he is giving back to his neighborhood than just cleaning up some trash, by investing some of his gain and not just using the funds to move to a better view. I believe, this “violent white gaze”, great words, by the way, you are talking about comes from the perspective that it is better to keep us divided, downtrodden, drugged, and broke. Politicians and institutions don’t want us getting along and they don’t want us educated, because it is easier to control us that way. When we can think, we will see how broken the system is, and then we want to do something about that. The 1% doesn’t want to risk the conversations we need to be having. I seek the next generation to change all of this ridiculous BS, but it’s not looking too good…
I dig this
I’m not sure where you see appropriation. You think he’s appropriating Duchamp?
Redundant though? I can see that. But I feel like he’s regularly finding new materials to use, just like an abstract sculptor would find new ways to use their materials.
Interesting point, Douglass. I definitely agree that his use of materials is unique and intriguing, but I wonder if he borrows too much from Duchamp’s ideology in presenting objects as his own. When Duchamp did this, it was completely new and unheard of, and this idea has been recycled over and over by other artists. I still believe Winston is an innovative artist, however.