Tyler Hildebrand is trained as an illustrator and incorporates drawings into his larger practice as a filmmaker, sculptor, and installation artist. He seeks to expose the troubling and gruesome aspects of American life through crude, unfiltered representations of reality. “I use my characters and archetypes as metaphors for violence, addictions, the disenfranchised, or the depraved,” says the artist. Hildebrand’s paintings, which are often crafted from rough house paints, portray lumbering, cartoonish figures; one recent series followed a delinquent during his travels. By using the same characters—such as Granny Whitey—in various series, Hildebrand creates a slightly fictionalized space to explore his themes.