Reba Kittredge Tyson is a Brooklyn based artist. She received her BFA from New York University. Her work was featured in the publication New American Paintings Issue #146, she was an Artist to Watch on ArtConnect’s 2021 list, and has been in group shows at Field Projects, Ground Floor Gallery, The Java Project, and IA & A at Hillyer.

Experiences and memories make people who they are. We are constantly evolving, learning, even forgetting, in order to become new versions of ourselves. Tyson’s work is centered on this notion; it aims to memorialize slices of life before they are lost. In Homer's Odyssey, when Odysseus finally returns to Ithaca he is unrecognizable to those who knew him. It is only when his former maid recognizes the scar he got as a child that she realizes who he is. His wound is part of his identity.

Tyson makes paintings of injuries because they are often overlooked. A bruise disappears over weeks, scars fade over years, but for a moment they are powerful symbols of what people survive. These paintings are testimonies to where the subjects have been; they are investigations of perseverance and strength. In the medium and scale of classic portraiture, Tyson make fleeting experiences permanent. The paintings render the subjects nearly anonymous; they become anyone and everyone, they could even be you. The hint of clothing or setting places the subject in a personal yet universal context. In all of Tyson’s Injury series, the paintings are composed to empower the subjects. They are each in their own environment, possessing their body and confidently sharing it.
www.rebakittredgetyson.com

‍When did you first begin creating art?

I am lucky enough to come from an artistic family, with parents who encouraged me to make art from a young age. For as long as I can remember I had an art class after school or on the weekends, as well as an art class in school. Making things has always been a part of my life and I am very grateful for that.

When did you first consider yourself to be an artist?

It took a long time to feel justified in calling myself an artist. When I got to the point in my injury paintings series that people trusted me enough to send me personal images to use for inspiration, I felt that I had gotten to a point where I could accept myself as an “artist”.

Who or what influences your practice?

I am dependent on the people I paint; I worry about them constantly while I am painting them. I want to do them all “justice” in depicting them, I want them to feel agency in their participation in the painting. Each person has gone through something traumatic to lead them to be the star of my painting. My painting subjects are usually my number one priority. But in terms of what artists influence me, I am looking at artists like Jenna Gribbon, Alexis Ralaivao, Katarina Riesing, Anastasiya Tarasenko, Karyn Lyons…those are a few of my favorites. Each of those painters has blown me away at one time or another. I think what they have in common is a great combination of use of color, composition, and expression that leaves me mesmerized by their work for a long time. I have also learned an infinite amount about being an artist from my sister, MJ Tyson, who is a sculptor, and the artists I’ve worked for, Robby Rose and Pamela Hanson.

Tell us about a specific moment in your career that you would consider a turning point.

Getting my own painting studio about four years ago made all the difference to me. It gave me a place to work things out and focus on painting. A big part of it is the idea that I pay for my studio and I need to make it worth it. That investment in my work changed everything.

Where would you like to see your artwork go in the future?

I would love to find the right gallery to show these paintings. I want my body of work to speak for itself and make a difference to someone. I spend all my time with these paintings and I'd like to send them out into the world to see what they can do.