"Super Me" by Tyler Key

Tyler Z. Key was born a beige, ambiguous product of and Egyptian father and a German mother. Despite unintentionally being the only member of his family sporting the coveted southern drawl (being born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama), he was constantly reminded by his mother that, "Your are not from here".

This lead to an important identity crisis at a very young age. instilling a spirit of existentialism and duality in him reminiscent of many of his contemporaries in the visual art canon.

Fueled by the encouragement of his older brother, Tyler began drawing at the ripe age of six. Honing his skills over the next few years, he began his professional career at age 11 by trading drawings he had made of fictionalized cartoon characters with his classmates for snack money.

Evolving from cartoons at the behest of his high school art teacher, Tyler delved into Realism, where his talent for bringing faces to life on the page emerged, enabling the teenage talent to profit from his graphite and charcoal portraits throughout his high school career. ​

Tyler moved on to attend the prestigious University of Alabama — with his mind set on entrepreneurship and business. During his final semester of Business school (rather, B-school, for those familiar with the parlance), Tyler made a well-calculated move to attend the College of Arts and Sciences at UA, earning Baccalaureate degrees in both Business and The Arts.

It was during this period in Tuscaloosa when the young artist began to mature, expanding his range of mediums and exploring a passion for painting — shifting from the black and white world of charcoal into the whimsical, colorful land of oils, acrylics, inks, and digital media.  

Social Media Handle: @tzkey