A F I N E A R T G A L L E R Y E X H I B I T I O N
BY T Y L E R W A L S E T H
About
We’re multifaceted. We all see things individually.
Vis. Optics presents a body of fine art paintings by Tyler Walseth built on a single organizing idea: the lenses through which each of us sees — physical, psychological, transcendent — shapes the spaces of our individual perspectives. Eleven works, one underlying geometric system, and a question with no answer.
The Work
“EMERGENCE” (AVAILABLE)
2026 - 62 x 48" (5'2"x 4') - acrylic / ash / ink / graphite / gel and liquid mediums
Artist Statement
Darkness is the absence of light, yet a single beam of light can split through. From a cracked lens, impossible chaotic angles break the paradigms of color, reflection, and projection. We juxtapose our understandings of color and light against what structures we know and the abyss of the unknown we have yet to learn. The symbolism here is that mental or physical distortion of our sensory perception and can help to embrace imperfection as beauty.
Fun fact: this painting contains over 8 shades of black (including Vanta black) and transforms in different lighting
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2026 - 62 x 48" (5'2"x 4') - acrylic / ash / ink / graphite / gel and liquid mediums
Artist Statement
Darkness is the absence of light, yet a single beam of light can split through. From a cracked lens, impossible chaotic angles break the paradigms of color, reflection, and projection. We juxtapose our understandings of color and light against what structures we know and the abyss of the unknown we have yet to learn. The symbolism here is that mental or physical distortion of our sensory perception and can help to embrace imperfection as beauty.
Fun fact: this painting contains over 8 shades of black (including Vanta black) and transforms in different lighting
“LAYER DEPTH” (INQUIRE FOR AVAILABILITY)
2026 - 40 x 40" - acrylic / graphite / ash / ink / gold leaf / enamel
Artist Statement
Embracing a “lens as a portal” is transcendent and allows us to not only see layers stacked vertically, but look into other dimensions with vision and curiosity. We peel something back to look into the dark of the unknown with more humility. Our emotional journeys here require us to switch between what is clear and what’s not — and soften to accept new ideas and reflections as they shimmer in new light. At present, we’re centered between our past and future.
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2026 - 40 x 40" - acrylic / graphite / ash / ink / gold leaf / enamel
Artist Statement
Embracing a “lens as a portal” is transcendent and allows us to not only see layers stacked vertically, but look into other dimensions with vision and curiosity. We peel something back to look into the dark of the unknown with more humility. Our emotional journeys here require us to switch between what is clear and what’s not — and soften to accept new ideas and reflections as they shimmer in new light. At present, we’re centered between our past and future.
“VANISHING” (AVAILABLE)
2026 - 24 x 30" - acrylic / graphite / eraser & pencil debris / ultra matte mediums
Artist Statement
Direction can be linear, or it can be random, with inflection and pivot points being limitless. With focus on this paradoxical opposition, we can be metaphorically headed in one trajectory only to be surprised, and our path broken into dozens of new possibilities. This moment isn’t singular or finite. Zooming into the point when everything changes, the idea of “one truth, one way” vanishes. We aren’t limited in the color of thought, nor is our movement ahead.
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2026 - 24 x 30" - acrylic / graphite / eraser & pencil debris / ultra matte mediums
Artist Statement
Direction can be linear, or it can be random, with inflection and pivot points being limitless. With focus on this paradoxical opposition, we can be metaphorically headed in one trajectory only to be surprised, and our path broken into dozens of new possibilities. This moment isn’t singular or finite. Zooming into the point when everything changes, the idea of “one truth, one way” vanishes. We aren’t limited in the color of thought, nor is our movement ahead.
“PORTAL” (SOLD)
24 x 30" - acrylic / mixed media / graphite / ash / liquid and gel matte medium
Artist Statement
It may feel as if we’ve lived many lives, surviving ourselves and our experiences again and again. All the loss, gain, love, pain, life, and death (literal or metaphorical) we’ve endured coalesce into a proverbial portal. Our ability to move ahead with growth and change drives our interest to progress — and spatial awareness takes on new meaning. At times we feel bent backward and upside-down as we move forward and through to what’s next.
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24 x 30" - acrylic / mixed media / graphite / ash / liquid and gel matte medium
Artist Statement
It may feel as if we’ve lived many lives, surviving ourselves and our experiences again and again. All the loss, gain, love, pain, life, and death (literal or metaphorical) we’ve endured coalesce into a proverbial portal. Our ability to move ahead with growth and change drives our interest to progress — and spatial awareness takes on new meaning. At times we feel bent backward and upside-down as we move forward and through to what’s next.
“DISTANCE” (AVAILABLE)
2026 - 24 x 30" - acrylic / ultra matte mediums / Indigo ink / India ink / granite dust
Artist Statement
As our awareness of our life’s journeys crystallizes, we slowly develop understandings of the distance we came to get this far. These form a perspective placing us at the convergence of where we’ve been and where we think we’re headed. These metaphoric lenses merge and collide, almost suspended in space to reveal a wormhole. This may surprise us with the challenge to reconsider where we’re going — twisting and bending what we thought we knew.
burnings of trees deep in the Wasatch-Uinta National Forest
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2026 - 24 x 30" - acrylic / ultra matte mediums / Indigo ink / India ink / granite dust
Artist Statement
As our awareness of our life’s journeys crystallizes, we slowly develop understandings of the distance we came to get this far. These form a perspective placing us at the convergence of where we’ve been and where we think we’re headed. These metaphoric lenses merge and collide, almost suspended in space to reveal a wormhole. This may surprise us with the challenge to reconsider where we’re going — twisting and bending what we thought we knew.
burnings of trees deep in the Wasatch-Uinta National Forest
“Pæonia lactiflora” (SOLD)
2026 - 16 x 20" (Part of a diptych with "Rosa chinensis")
acrylic / ink / gold enamel / tears / pollen / gesso powder
Artist Statement
Your love is a deep coral,
A fleshy, sweet peach bud.
Goosebumps ripple
Across afternoon light,
And your tears swell.
Skin transitions to vivid
Salmons, pinks, oranges,
Creamy butter yellows, and
We sob alone together.
Knowing this is the end,
Your petals fall at sunset
Into a delicate pile of what was:
Our weepy pool of tears.
It’s where we drowned, and
Dried up–leaving behind only
Tiny seeds....![]()
Fun fact: this painting started out as a “waste catcher” for smearing unused paint onto and contains paint from 7 other paintings in this collections
2026 - 16 x 20" (Part of a diptych with "Rosa chinensis")
acrylic / ink / gold enamel / tears / pollen / gesso powder
Artist Statement
Your love is a deep coral,
A fleshy, sweet peach bud.
Goosebumps ripple
Across afternoon light,
And your tears swell.
Skin transitions to vivid
Salmons, pinks, oranges,
Creamy butter yellows, and
We sob alone together.
Knowing this is the end,
Your petals fall at sunset
Into a delicate pile of what was:
Our weepy pool of tears.
It’s where we drowned, and
Dried up–leaving behind only
Tiny seeds....
Fun fact: this painting started out as a “waste catcher” for smearing unused paint onto and contains paint from 7 other paintings in this collections
“Rosa chinensis” (AVAILABLE)
2026 - 16 x 20" (Part of a diptych with "Pæonia lactiflora")
acrylic / enamel / matte gel and liquid mediums / India ink / Indigo ink / Pure pigment
Artist Statement
Before you left me, you asked for a rose,
But that I paint it for you.
As the sun melted the coastal fog,
My heart broke and bled
Through pigment, into watercolors, onto paper.
I taped it high on the wall above your
Hospital bed, so you could see it,
Because you couldn’t move.
As cancer took your last breaths,
Your advice, voice, gaze, hand’s grip on mine,
and on life – softened. But
Your love was its strongest.
The thorny pain of losing you
Has never made sense.
But, the beautiful perfume of your love lives in my heart.
It’s the deep reach of dark grief in every night
And the lingering sweet fragrance of memory,
Of the most rare Black Rose.![]()
2026 - 16 x 20" (Part of a diptych with "Pæonia lactiflora")
acrylic / enamel / matte gel and liquid mediums / India ink / Indigo ink / Pure pigment
Artist Statement
Before you left me, you asked for a rose,
But that I paint it for you.
As the sun melted the coastal fog,
My heart broke and bled
Through pigment, into watercolors, onto paper.
I taped it high on the wall above your
Hospital bed, so you could see it,
Because you couldn’t move.
As cancer took your last breaths,
Your advice, voice, gaze, hand’s grip on mine,
and on life – softened. But
Your love was its strongest.
The thorny pain of losing you
Has never made sense.
But, the beautiful perfume of your love lives in my heart.
It’s the deep reach of dark grief in every night
And the lingering sweet fragrance of memory,
Of the most rare Black Rose.
“FIXED/VARIABLE” (AVAILABLE)
2026 - 12 x 16" (Part of a diptych with "Broken/New")
acrylic / graphite / gel and liquid gloss mediums / ink / gesso / pure pigment / Tiffany® blue
Artist Statement
In the simplicity of white light is a spectrum of infinite color. Below the glassy lens of every eye is a unique iris that gives us a magical, singular ability to create presence, and develop perspective. One fixed part of anatomy where the structures and functions are shared balances one variable part of individuality where not even two irises in the same person are the same. We meander along paths all our own, with different, morphing visions of the world.
Fun fact: part of this painting is a literal re-creation of a dear friend’s iris![]()
2026 - 12 x 16" (Part of a diptych with "Broken/New")
acrylic / graphite / gel and liquid gloss mediums / ink / gesso / pure pigment / Tiffany® blue
Artist Statement
In the simplicity of white light is a spectrum of infinite color. Below the glassy lens of every eye is a unique iris that gives us a magical, singular ability to create presence, and develop perspective. One fixed part of anatomy where the structures and functions are shared balances one variable part of individuality where not even two irises in the same person are the same. We meander along paths all our own, with different, morphing visions of the world.
Fun fact: part of this painting is a literal re-creation of a dear friend’s iris
“BROKEN/NEW” (AVAILABLE)
2026 - 12 x 16" (Part of a diptych with "Fixed/Variable")
acrylic / black gesso / ultra matte and matte mediums / charcoal powder / ink
Artist Statement
We can be governed by fear. Wounds can appear to heal in the sense that we just memorize where danger was/is and overthink and over-prepare to avoid the landmines. This acute hypervigilance constricts potential with “If I try..., Something bad may happen.” It can take extreme hardship and profound journeys to learn to allow this blackness — a continual grip on control and suffocating fear — to break. This is the healing. This shattering gives way to new worlds and dimensions of self.
![]()
2026 - 12 x 16" (Part of a diptych with "Fixed/Variable")
acrylic / black gesso / ultra matte and matte mediums / charcoal powder / ink
Artist Statement
We can be governed by fear. Wounds can appear to heal in the sense that we just memorize where danger was/is and overthink and over-prepare to avoid the landmines. This acute hypervigilance constricts potential with “If I try..., Something bad may happen.” It can take extreme hardship and profound journeys to learn to allow this blackness — a continual grip on control and suffocating fear — to break. This is the healing. This shattering gives way to new worlds and dimensions of self.
“FOUND FOCUS” (SOLD)
2026 - 11 x 14" (Part of a diptych with "Lost Clarity")
acrylic / ultra matte gel and liquid mediums / graphite / gesso powder
Artist Statement
As our gaze softens when we squint, we feel something: the irony of simplicity and the paradox of clarity. Details obscure for a second and nuances blend together, often letting us see and know what’s emphasized. The tactic of squinting and purposely obscuring to get clarity and seeing it all again helps us move through confusion. Being confused or puzzled makes us uncomfortable, and sparks our instinct to get to comfort — even if through blurred vision.
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2026 - 11 x 14" (Part of a diptych with "Lost Clarity")
acrylic / ultra matte gel and liquid mediums / graphite / gesso powder
Artist Statement
As our gaze softens when we squint, we feel something: the irony of simplicity and the paradox of clarity. Details obscure for a second and nuances blend together, often letting us see and know what’s emphasized. The tactic of squinting and purposely obscuring to get clarity and seeing it all again helps us move through confusion. Being confused or puzzled makes us uncomfortable, and sparks our instinct to get to comfort — even if through blurred vision.
“LOST CLARITY” (SOLD)
2026 - 11 x 14” (Part of a diptych with "Found Focus")
acrylic / gloss gel / fluid mediums
Artist Statement
Sometimes nothing feels clear — the mind tricks us into feeling this way: confused, messy, and in total disarray. Mistakes and failures to meet our own expectations or intentions can light joy up in flames. It can take layer after layer (in this case, 110+ in this painting) of effort to accept lost clarity. This realization is embodied through adopting Nietzsche’s radical philosophy, Amor Fati: we must “embrace and love everything that happens in life—both the good and the bad.” Imperfection is beauty.
Fun fact: this painting is the smallest, was the most challenging, and is the most complex of the whole collection — it features over 110 transparent layers of medium and paint
![]()
2026 - 11 x 14” (Part of a diptych with "Found Focus")
acrylic / gloss gel / fluid mediums
Artist Statement
Sometimes nothing feels clear — the mind tricks us into feeling this way: confused, messy, and in total disarray. Mistakes and failures to meet our own expectations or intentions can light joy up in flames. It can take layer after layer (in this case, 110+ in this painting) of effort to accept lost clarity. This realization is embodied through adopting Nietzsche’s radical philosophy, Amor Fati: we must “embrace and love everything that happens in life—both the good and the bad.” Imperfection is beauty.
Fun fact: this painting is the smallest, was the most challenging, and is the most complex of the whole collection — it features over 110 transparent layers of medium and paint
Breaking Spaces – The Deep Details
We’re multifaceted.
Spaces. Lenses. We all see individually.
Breaking Spaces is a body of fine art that explores lenses and spaces, and emerges from an underlying grid of four vertical rectangles contained within a square. This is the structural logic that makes everything possible: shape, line, proportion, balance — the quiet vibration between spaces. The grid is also made to be broken, with each departure from it becoming a gesture toward the creative, non-linear thinking that rigid systems can never fully contain. The numerical, geometric, and visual possibilities are infinite. They are the starting point for bringing these ideas into form.
From this foundation, these eleven pieces are symbolic of our view of the world through individual “lenses.” These lenses shape our personal beliefs and perceptions of the human experience. These viewpoints shape our individual realities and become the “spaces” from which we each see what’s around us and each other. Like light through lenses, our perspectives can bend, fracture, or invert, and these symbolic mental spaces are not fixed: they can shift, adapt, or fold back on themselves. When we allow for that, when we let these spaces break, things change. Our lenses adjust and evolve. We become willing to hold what the mind and the eyes cannot resolve, and find comfort there rather than confusion. The tension this creates isn't a problem — it’s an invitation: to embrace that two people can encounter the same thing and experience something entirely different. That recognition, quiet as it is, is where acceptance begins, and empathy grows.
Three visual territories run through the collection: the physical, where light refracts and focus softens at the edges — billions of people turning one world into billions of different ones; the psychological, where vibrant or subtle tints color everything we think we see clearly — mood as weather, shaping judgment and emotional longing without our noticing; and the transcendent, where a convex lens suspended in space becomes a portal rather than a window, bending reality the way a threshold bends a life, opening onto dimensions of self that ordinary sight cannot reach.
Together, the work doesn't just depict vision. It enacts it. And in the silence of each piece, it asks the question that has no answer: Is there a way to know if what we see is accurate or actually real?
For more information on Breaking Spaces, to commission a related piece, or connect, send an email
