Johanna Pounds
Editorial Assistant
Northeast News

Tyson Schroeder is a local painter, editorialist, and musician who has been working in the Northeast since 2011. He and his friends, like Renee Cinderhouse, have created a community of artists in the Northeast that has helped ground him and his work. They critique each other and inspire each other to create the best art each of them can.

Schroeder began painting in the early 1990s, when he started some of his first music projects. He created original band posters for himself and his bandmates. Eventually, other bands took notice and started to pay Schroeder for customized posters.

This helped him dive head-first into his love for painting. In his work, he said he values ambiguity. He wants each painting’s meaning to be up to the interpretation of the viewer.

“There is plenty of art that has a story from beginning, middle, to end,” noted Schroeder. “Although a lot of those works are beautiful, that’s not as exciting for me.”

Some of his favourite artists include Gustav Klimt and Francis Bacon, whose inspiration shows through his work. Klimt’s erotic symbolism alongside Bacon’s emotionally-charged imagery rears its head in Schroeder’s paintings such as “The Sitting Room,” one of Schroeder’s favorite pieces.
“I came home one day after working my awful retail job, and sat down in the studio and just painted it. It flowed out of me; it was the first time something like that had happened with one of my paintings,” he said.

Now, that’s the only way Schroeder paints. He no longer creates for gallery shows. He will only do commission pieces or paint for his own pleasure. For him, it is about creating the best artwork he can.

Although he is not painting the same amount as he has in the past, Schroeder has many other projects in the works.

Currently, he is a drummer for two bands, Abandoned Bells and The Medicine Theory. The Medicine Theory is a “loud-noise, post-punk kind of thing,” that has been making music since 2007. The other, Abandoned Bells is described as a mix of gothic music and folk music. Two genres that you wouldn’t think could mix, but as Schroeder says “they just do”.

The Medicine Theory will be hosting a concert at The Brick on McGee street March 2nd.

Schroeder has also established himself as an editorialist, doing several cartoons for the Boston Globe. His editorials are very different from his traditional art work, as his biggest goal is to tell a story.
“I am very opinionated,” he said. Doing editorials has allowed him to “be removed and non-bias while still being able to give a story.”

Tyson Schroeder walks through many genres of art with ease, and has found a community for that in the Northeast.

For more information on Tyson Schroeder, visit tschroederart.virb.com or email tschroederart@gmail.com.