Biography

Rob Tyler is a graphic designer & filmmaker living and working in Portland Oregon. Working in both documentary and experimental mediums, his films and videos have been described as both visually stunning and atmospherically beautiful.

Rob’s first foray into film and video work began in 1999 with the creative team Archipelago (featuring Adrienne Leverette and Eric Schopmeyer). As a group they have created three documentaries including the noted A Thing of Wonder. The group took a holistic approach to movie making and created sensual portraits of their subjects that struck a chord with local audiences as well as gaining national and international exposure through film festival screenings and broadcasts. Since early 2004 the group has been on hiatus.

In the mean time, Rob has been creating his own abstract film and video work, focusing on simple and clean compositions drawing on his interests in industrial design, architecture, graphic arts, and music. The culmination of Rob’s interests has resulted in the creation of Color + Modulation, a 7-year video art project featuring hand painted 16mm film that has been digitally manipulated. The majority of this work was completed during various stints of self-imposed unemployment between 2001 and 2003.

Rob has also been working on a series of short movies about household appliances entitled Novice Robots. These short movies highlight the industrial design and simple mechanics of electric can openers, blenders, and salad shooting devices. Film Threat magazine gave Blender: Rotation Test 1-3 four stars for creativity while Magic Hostess, The Electric Can Opener has been described by the Miami New Times as “even stranger than a David Lynch film.”

Rob Tyler has been the recipient of various grants and awards including the Oregon Arts Commission’s Media Fellowship in 2003, a first place prize at The Florida Experimental Film Festival and finishing 3rd place in Aurora Picture Show’s Extremely Shorts programs on two occasions. Rob has also been nominated for a Rockefeller grant three times, but due to either abstract proposals or just plain poor writing the grant has been elusive.

Rob is the product of a suburban upbringing, hailing from Federal Way Washington.