Tyler Healy: PST

AA|LA is pleased to present Tyler Healy’s PST, an exhibition exploring the delicate and often fraught relationships between society and the natural world. Drawing on modes of production and circulation that define our era—such as 3D printing, stock imagery, and ready made objects—Healy invites viewers to consider the cultural tensions embedded in the everyday objects and symbols that we share.

PST is inspired by Healy’s recent cross country road trip of the United States. Visiting 24 states, he began a large scale installation project in which he placed state quarters at specific locations that the quarters depicted. PST further explores the themes from this installation, focusing on the how elements of the nature are utilized as national and state symbols.

3D-printed quarters from the four states that employ Pacific Standard Time have been enlarged by a scale of 10 and are presented throughout the gallery. By magnifying and thus highlighting the motifs and subjects presented on the United States quarters, Healy proposes a closer examination of the artwork and iconography engraved on our currency.

Each quarter is supported by a corresponding object that is portrayed on the quarter -- a pine cone from a Douglas Fir Tree (Oregon), a taxidermy salmon (Washington), Silver horseshoes (Nevada), and a stuffed-animal condor (California). Collectively these objects demonstrate a range of problematic relationships between humans and the deteriorating environments in which they exist. By placing these found objects alongside their likenesses in US coinage, Healy suggests a dichotomy between nature and its function in constructing American identity.

The gallery walls are lined with stock images of nature and industry. Specifically curated by Healy to embody his personal photographic style, the mundane photos of these opposing forces impress a sense of ease and calm. Nevertheless, this deceptive tranquility is broken by the foam insulation and laminate that frame the images, alluding to man’s attempts of containment and control.

In a room off the main gallery space, Healy has built a site-specific installation that emphasizes the irony often found in representations of nature. Tools used during environmental disasters such as protective tarps and an absorbent flood barrier create an enclosed microclimate. However, in contrast to the protective apparatuses, a humidifier in the form of Olaf, the comedic snowman from Disney’s film Frozen, runs continuously and saturates the environment. While humorous and playful, the humidifier personifies the self-destructive tendencies that drive society -- despite his droll nature, Olaf adversely affects his surroundings, theoretically leading to his ultimate demise.

Tyler Healy (b. 1989, Bellport, New York) lives and works in New York, NY. He is a co-founder of Auto Body, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit curatorial arts organization. He has exhibited extensively at various galleries and fairs including AA|LA (Los Angeles), Marquee Gallery (Bellport), Fisher Parish (Brooklyn), TEMP Art Space (New York City), Ed Varie (New York City), New Art Dealers Alliance, (New York) Bleecker Street Arts Club (New York City), Auto Body (Bellport), Museum Dhodt-Dhaenens (Belgium), and South Florida Art Center (Miami). PST is Healy’s second solo exhibition at AA|LA.