Night Gallery presents Portraits 2019–2026, a new exhibition by Tyler Matthew Oyer (Art MFA 12), on view through Aug. 15 in Los Angeles. The exhibition coincides with the release of Portraits 2025, the fifth volume in Oyer’s ongoing series of photographic portraits.
Portraits 2019–2026 brings together 360 4-by-6-inch photographs from Oyer’s archive, installed in a single panoramic line that wraps around the gallery walls. The presentation places cultural figures, fellow artists, friends, mentors, and family members side by side at the same scale, including Beyoncé, Herbie Hancock, artist Barbara T. Smith (Chouinard 65), and Oyer’s mother, Tana.
Oyer describes his practice as “social photography,” documenting people he encounters in the course of his life rather than staging conventional portrait sessions. His subjects are photographed as he finds them—without direction or constructed settings—at openings, events, and other shared moments. The resulting archive traces both Oyer’s personal relationships and the larger cultural communities surrounding his practice.
While the photographs are candid, their arrangement in the gallery is carefully composed. Oyer has compared sequencing the installation to producing music, bringing individual elements together to create a larger rhythm. Photographs of people who may never have met are placed in conversation with one another, while longtime collaborators and peers are sometimes reunited along the wall. The inclusion of subjects who have since died also gives the installation the character of a living archive, placing past and present within the same continuous line.
Oyer’s practice spans visual and performance art, photography, and music. He has photographed for fashion houses Balenciaga, Dior, and Rick Owens, as well as artists and performers including FKA Twigs, Robyn, and Britt Lower. His photography has appeared in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Vogue, and Paper.
