Tyler is inspired by the light and space movement from California in the 1960s and 70s. Artists within the Light and Space movement created immersive visual experiences for viewers through the use of shadows, space, and lighting techniques. Whilst at Massey University, he found a way of making his own style of sculptural reliefs that he has slowly resolved and developed over the last 8 years.

He has been using acrylic glass since 2014, and began thermoforming the material in 2015 whilst studying at Massey University. He was drawn to it first as a way of filtering and manipulating light through a coloured lens and then, after researching the material's industrial properties, learnt he could sculpt it a lot more freely.

Each perspex panel is laser cut to get a clean, shiny mirror edge and then put in a large custom-made oven for up to 30 minutes to become malleable but not burned. He then uses gloves, his arms and body, as well as weights or towels to sculpt the material into a desired shape, then the perspex quickly cools down after a few minutes to set in place.

With Tyler’s light works, he is interested in making machines that operate autonomously and for these machines to be influenced by their surroundings.

Usually, the environment and its weather systems, as well as human interactions through a motion sensor. The lighting work in this show varies when the weather and environment change.

The work autonomously decides the colour interactions that will be produced over the duration of the exhibition, each day changing as weather systems move across Taranaki. A nice juxtaposition to the very controlled choices of colour interactions from the relief sculptures sitting alongside the show.