Spiritual and Natural Power

Artist Tyree Guyton (American, born 1955)

Date1999-2008

MediumPaint on car hood

Dimensions46 × 47 × 4 in. (116.8 × 119.4 × 10.2 cm)

ClassificationsPainting

Object numberUAC3126

DescriptionRemembering the first time he was ever handed a paintbrush, by his grandfather Sam Mackey, "It was like magic," he remembered. "It was like bells went off in my head. My hand was burning. I knew then I was put here to be an artist." This is a recollection of Tyree Guyton from the age of nine, written by Neal Shine in the article 'Remembering Sam Mackey'. The type of magic that Tyree speaks of has carried on throughout his career, as he grew up to work as a firefighter, an autoworker, and served in the U.S. Army before carrying on to study art at Marygrove College, Wayne State University, and the College for Creative Studies.

Guyton is most famous for The Heidelberg Project, which was created by Guyton and his grandfather Sam Mackey. They breathed new life into the McDougal-Hunt neighborhood in Detroit by painting the houses of Heidelberg street and reclaiming objects from the neighborhood as sculptural installations.

In the painting Spiritual and Natural Power, you see one work out of a collection of Guyton's car hood paintings. His use of color and line work evokes a feeling that is beyond the surface of the work. This piece is an experience, where you start to feel the essence and inner world of the artist himself. In an interview with Inner State Gallery, Guyton stated "'As an artist, I felt my job was to take that which was meant to be an act of harm and destruction and create magic-new possibilities! A work that demonstrates that you CANNOT kill spirit,' Guyton said in his studio space in Midtown Detroit. "I have risen to another level of consciousness where I can see the mighty hands of Yahweh (God) in everything."

Text by Emily Lane Borden

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