tyson shepherd : quiet and secretly afraid
November 29, 2025 - January 10, 2026
Press Release
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(Dallas) Ro2 Art is proud to present a solo exhibition of acrylic paintings by Shepherd, exploring memory, emotion, and personal mythology through a vivid, symbolic lens. Drawing from lived experience, internalized emotion, and cultural observation, Shepherd creates visual allegories that reflect the complexities of self-awareness. Each painting is sparked by moments of discomfort or tension—experiences that demand reflection and, ultimately, transformation. Cartoonish visual language collides with highly rendered figures, many of them bearing reputations that are as heavy as they are historic. In this space between maturity and play, Shepherd constructs a personal lexicon—one that invites viewers to examine the roles we inherit, resist, and reimagine.
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About the Artist
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Tyson Shepherd began drawing at the age of four, crafting intricate paper cutouts of his favorite cartoon characters—what he called his “toys.” After trips to Blockbuster with his mother and sister, he would return home and carefully extract characters from the DVD cover art, eager to bring their worlds into his own. More than once, those paper-thin windows into imagined realms left behind tiny holes in rental cases—and sparked big conversations at the return counter. From an early age, Shepherd was captivated by the alternate realities animation offered—spaces more alive, more vivid, than the everyday world. That desire to immerse, to build a world where none yet exists, continues to fuel his practice. For Shepherd, painting is the most total form of creation: a place of obsession and invention, where the outside world recedes and a new one begins.
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exhibition statement
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“My acrylic paintings are representations of my memories, ideologies, dreams and internalized feelings. They’re visual allegories derived from my lived experiences and observations. I’m often pushed to create by things that make me uncomfortable, tense, or reflective. It’s important for me to become aware of those things and convey them in my work to better understand myself. I often paint with cartoonish visual language and highly-rendered subjects burdened with reputations — sometimes mature, and sometimes childlike.”
- Tyson Shepherd, 2025 |
