As part of the gallery’s continued interest in performance and new media, Cirrus is pleased to announce the representation of Tyler Matthew Oyer. For his first solo show at Cirrus, Oyer will stage an operetta entitled Shimmy Shake Earthquake. Performing alongside sculptures, images, and installation Oyer sets an original libretto among twisted tropes of Americana; a glittered mid-century modern living room, allegorical tales of faulty nationalism, and an abstracted discotheque of possibility. Leading his audience through a series of acts, Oyer adopts the caricatured roles of hypnotist, lecturer, and nightclub performer. By manipulating forms of popular entertainment, Oyer allegorically presents a diverse audience with the complexities of material and immaterial value and their relation to the socio-political landscape.
Called an “interdisciplinary gospel immortalist” by Kembra Pfahler of the Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black, Tyler Matthew Oyer was born in Pennsylvania and currently lives and works in Los Angeles. He received his MFA from California Institute of the Arts in 2012. His work has been presented in cities including Los Angeles, New York, Washington DC, Miami, Berlin, Copenhagen, Kassel, London, Amsterdam, Oslo, and Varna, Bulgaria. His one-man performance “Hello, Dolly!” was part of Andrea Zittel’s 2011 High Desert Test Sites event. In August of 2013 he presented “100 Years of Noise: Beyoncé is ready to receive you now” at REDCAT. Marta Becket of the Amargosa Opera House in Death Valley Junction once said, “Tyler looks like a performer”.