Schwartz Gallery and underground creative hub and performance venue Vogue Fabrics Dalston are delighted to present the first solo installation of work in London by British-American artist Tyler Mallison — A triptych from his performative series Shadow of my Former Self, which blurs the lines of traditional disciplines and addresses the expanded field of painting.

Within this body of work, Mallison further explores his ongoing interest in the role physical clothing plays in shaping our image and investigates what it means to individual identity when these items are rejected and left behind—effectively marking the death of the former self. The medium employed is ‘all the clothing removed from his present state of being’ manipulated by the artist in conjunction with the body.

There is a reference to the ephemeral and transformative—aspects critical both to traditional portraiture and still life painting. And whilst compositions have a classic quality, reminiscent of a formal sitting or setting, they are the product of a spontaneous, dynamic process wherein both the being and object are in a constant state of metamorphosis or flux.

The site-specific situation of an unmarked high street shop front in conjunction with the underground performance venue Vogue Fabrics Dalston further amplifies themes of identity construction, consumerism, projection and concealment. At night, the work takes on an additional luminous, mystical quality—seemingly lit by shadows.


Vogue Fabrics Dalston is an underground creative hub and performance venue run by fashion/costume designer Lyall Hakaraia, showcasing the creativity of East London with the very best in music, performance and art.

Schwartz Gallery was founded in April 2008 by artist-curators Patrick Michalopoulos and Ismail Erbil. Questioning exhibition and display formats Schwartz Gallery has become an important platform and forum for emerging contemporary art practice and debate in East London and beyond.

Image of work: Shadow of My Former Self (2013), installation of triptych from series.
Giclée photographic pigment prints on archival paper, framed, 103 x 219 x 5 cm