Young Aaron in the Forest

Tyler Gonzales

Sonoma County-based artist Tyler James Gonzalez works from photos: old album photos, or ones he takes on his camera or smartphone, drawing them by eye directly onto the matrix without using photographic reproductive tools. He often focuses on images of family members and friends.

Here, Gonzales uses the litho stone to recreate a photo portrait of a young man looking at the viewer as seen from slightly below. Gonzales incorporates the texture of the medium into the composition; in this way, he's rendered the subject as much a part of the landscape - a forest - as he is an individual, lending intimacy and mystery to the work.